Seven-and-a-half-year-old Mindy Kim and her dad have just moved to Florida (an hour outside of Orlando) from California, just a few months after Mindy's mother died after a long illness.

She is nervous about starting a new school, and wishes she could have a puppy to cheer her up. As she is just starting to deal with those issues (adjusting to a new school, without her newly-dead mom), she is also faced with unkind classmates who tease her about her Korean lunch food, an unkind teacher who has trouble with her Korean name, and then she discovers her father crying alone in his room. She draws conclusions quickly: she should make friends by selling them unusual Korean snacks, and use the money to buy a puppy to cheer up her dad & herself.

Mindy's internal voice, emotional awareness, decision-making process, & choices seem to reflect the perspective of a 7-year-old sometimes, and occasionally a 9- or 10-year-old, so there is a lack of cohesion, but it still seems believable - for the most part.

The fact that her mom died seems to only have affected the emotional state of her dad - Mindy herself does not seem to be grieving. The desire for a puppy to keep her company is so typical of 7- and 8-year-olds, that doesn't signify. She refers to missing her mother only very briefly - when classmates speak of their mothers, and when her father mentions missing her, she quickly reassures him that he is parent enough.

So, this is not an overcoming-grief novel - she's over it! This is about trying to sell snacks in elementary school & getting in trouble for it. I think most 2nd-graders will think it's realistic.