Nine-year-old Francine Garcia has to help look after her little brother, Alfond, while they stay with Auntie Flora so that Mama and Papa can take baby Ramón to Atlanta for a month of important medical treatments. And looking after Alfond isn't easy--he throws up all the time, and wrecks her things, and almost gets eaten by a tiger at the circus. Francine's recipe for joy at first involves finding a way to get herself to Atlanta too, but when that doesn't work out, she eventually realizes that joy can be found in the most surprising places if you give it a chance. Her emotional journey parallels Auntie Flora's recovery and return to community since the death of Sylvie, her fiancé.

Francine's difficulty with friendships, encounters with ferrets, and passion for elephants will engage and entertain readers age 8 - 12 in this middle-grade novel that unfolds in 29 chapters.

"Beverley Brenna's Francine is an unforgettable heroine in the tradition of Clementine, Harriet M. Welsch, and Ramona Quimby, who navigates the world like an elephant tiptoeing through a china shop. A swishy, rainbow-hued revelation of a novel that pops with joy." -- Michael F. Stewart, author of Seeking Draven