Pounce! A How To Speak Cat Training Guide by Gary Weitzman

Nellie isn't able to come up with the $500 she would like, and when her mother visits, an incident occurs that causes the family to need the money for other expenses. Her friend, Maya, comes from a supportive family, but Maya is becoming more interested in clothes and boys, and Nellie has no patience for either. When the father finds out George's role in the theft, they fight, and George goes to live with a friend, putting even more of a burden on Nellie. Tom and his friend help out a lot, earning money from carrying groceries at the store for people.

She's able to keep the sale a secret from her dad even though all of the neighbors know. She asks neighbors for odd jobs like weeding, washes cars, and has a garage sale to sell her mother's clothes and jewelry. Nellie steps in to take care of the family, and after she finds out from George that he's the one who took the money and sent it to their mother, she decides to try to earn back the money so her father feels better. Rushmore was taken by Nellie's mother, he goes back into a deep depression, not getting out of bed, going to work, or getting groceries for the family. When their father finds out that the $500 that he had saved up to take the family on a trip to Mt. Abe becomes a big help in dealing with their precarious situation. They also take in a dog, whom they name Abe, after they see him being beaten by a neighbor. The two read the newspaper every day, lingering over the horoscopes and Hagar the Horrible comic strips but also following the Watergate coverage and the news of Mooch, a bird at a nearby zoo who has been stolen. Because their father works long hours as a cook at the Far Reach restaurant, Nellie is in charge of watching Teddy during the day, earning ten dollars 'to make sure that Teddy at something besides Popsicles, didn't stay in his p.j.'s all day or get run over by a bus' (from the E ARC but SO descriptive!). Their mother has recently left home and has not been in contact with the family. Nellie Sanders lives in a Boston neighborhood with her father, older brothers George and Tom, and younger brother Teddy in 1974.

Pounce! A How To Speak Cat Training Guide by Gary Weitzman