Just Juice — Karen Hesse

Juice Faulstich lives with her pa and ma and four sisters in the North Carolina hills. Working with her hands comes easy to Juice, but not school. This year, she's back again in Miss Hamble's third grade. Letters and numbers still don't make sense to her, even though she's the biggest kid in class.
Juice skips school when she can, and spends the day with her pa. When he gets an official-looking letter, he asks Juice's little sister to read it--he says he needs new glasses and can't make out the words. It seems the bank will repossess their house if they don't pay their taxes--but how will they ever pay back so much money? And who is brave enough to tell Ma?
Karen Hesse works her magic again in this satisfying family story about life-sized problems and everyday heroes.