ERIN McEWAN, YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED

In a book set in Atlantic Canada, Erin's math anxiety is entwined with her family's Financial woes. When Erin's mother loses her job as a cook in a gourmet deli because she can't take on certain additional responsibilities (e.g., pricing or indeed anything that requires math), Erin is utterly sympathetic: if she doesn't pull up her own math scores, she will have to repeat sixth grade. In desperation, Erin secretly takes a job with her mother's old employer in return for help with her math. Initially, the tutoring is a failure; then another employee takes over the teaching, and by the story's end Erin and her mother both have jobs at the deli. Genial and hard-working, Erin is a believable heroine whose school problems will be familiar to many readers. The unusual Halifax setting, an array of imperfect but likable adults, and a reasonable solution give this pleasant US debut by a Canadian author its punch.