Just Do This One Thing for Me, Laura Zimmermann
Just Do This One Thing for Me, Laura Zimmermann
List: $25.00 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.50

Just Do This One Thing for Me

Author: Laura Zimmermann

Narrator: Jennifer Jill Araya

Unabridged: 8 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/22/2023


Synopsis

Hilarious, heartbreaking, and sneaky suspenseful, Just Do This One Thing for Me is a timely novel about a rule-following daughter trying to hold her family together after her scammer mother disappears.

“Just do this one thing for me.” Drew's mother says it more often than good morning. Heidi Hill has been juggling shady side hustles for all of Drew’s seventeen years, and Drew knows that “one thing” really means all the necessary things her mother thinks are boring, including taking care of her fifteen-year-old sister and eight-year-old brother. In fact, Drew is the closest thing to a responsible adult they’ve ever known. When their mother disappears on the way to a New Year’s Eve concert in Mexico and her schemes start unraveling, Drew is faced with a choice: Follow the rules, do the responsible thing, and walk away--alone--from her mother's mess. Or hope the weather stays cold, keep the cons going, and just maybe hold her family together.

About The Author

Laura Zimmermann is a multiple-time champion of the Twin Cities Moth and Word Sprout story slams, and she was chosen to participate in the 2018 Listen To Your Mother storytelling show. Her debut novel, My Eyes Are Up Here, won the Minnesota Book Award. She lives with her family in Minneapolis, MN. 


Reviews

Goodreads review by Shannon on August 21, 2023

This was a hilarious and tender YA story about a neglectful mother and Drew, her eldest daughter who is left trying to hold the family together when their scammer mother turns up dead. The IRS is knocking on their door constantly trying to hold her mother accountable for all the tax evasion and frau......more

Goodreads review by Aparna on August 28, 2023

Warm, hilarious, heartbreaking.......more

Goodreads review by Natalie on September 20, 2023

Funny in a sad way - YA with a bucket-load of merit! Devastating, disadvantaged and downright atrocious parenting, but Drew is an unbelievable character that shows you can overcome such a terrible childhood. Definitely a read for YA who feel life is unfair because this family deals with that sh*# in......more

Goodreads review by Tori on January 13, 2024

I had no clue what I was getting into with this book and it blew me away. I would have devoured this as a teen and been fully obsessed. This dark, witty, and heartfelt book really worked for me!......more

Goodreads review by Julia on February 08, 2025

This was a surprise. Like a wintry, teenaged Weekend at Bernies.......more


Quotes

“[A] propulsive, heartbreaking account of having to grow up too soon.”—People Magazine

"One of the most humorous, touching novels published this year."—St. Paul Pioneer Press

“A wild ride.” —Minnesota Public Radio

"A witty, off-beat, and strangely charming look at just how far an eldest child will go to keep their younger siblings together. —School Library Journal

"Drew’s bitingly funny, smart, and deceptively vulnerable voice drives this contemporary fiction offering  that delivers madcap comedy, a bit of a mystery, and an engaging family drama.... An often hilarious yet also poignant tale of sibling loyalty." —Kirkus Reviews

Zimmerman delivers a suspenseful novel about three siblings struggling to stay afloat after their mother’s death. The siblings’ enduring relationship provides a strong through line, while cinematic prose and Drew’s wry first-person voice convey both gruesome and darkly humorous descriptions of the trio’s efforts to stay together.” —Publishers Weekly

An SLJ Best Book of the Year
An Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominee
A Finalist for the Minnesota Book Award


Awards

  • Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel