Summary

Chapter 1: Margaret prays to God that moving to New Jersey from New York won’t be “too horrible.” She is surprised that her family has decided to buy a house in Farbrook, New Jersey. They move the Tuesday before Labor Day, just in time for the start of the new school year.

Margaret suspects that the move has to do with her parents wanting to get her away from her grandmother, Sylvia Simon. Sylvia spoils Margaret, pays for her private school education, and sends her to summer camp in New Hampshire. In New Jersey, Margaret will go to a public school and she doubts that her grandmother will visit because Sylvia doesn’t have a car and hates public transportation. Margaret says that her grandmother is a lot of fun, despite being sixty years old, and that she is always asking Margaret if she has a...