A funny and heartfelt realistic middle-grade novel about friendship, family, and the meaning of luck, from author Janice Erlbaum.
Eighth-grader Emma Macintyre could use some good luck. The popular kids at her school ignore her, the boy she likes is out of her league, and her best friend has been ditching her for the mean girls. Worst of all, her beloved Aunt Jenny died recently, leaving Emma and her single mom reeling with grief.
Then Emma receives a mysterious letter with no return address. The letter promises that ten lucky little things will happen to her over the next thirty days―she just has to make a list of what she wants. When the things on her list start coming true, she races to understand what’s happening. How does this lucky letter work? Who sent it? And what’s going to happen when the thirty days are done?

Lucky Little Things

Children's Books

Erlbaum, Janice

Growing Up & Facts of Life

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Janice Erlbaum's Let Me Fix That for You is a quirky, touching, and laugh-out-loud middle-grade novel about a girl capable of fixing everything but her own life.
Twelve-year-old Gladys Burke may not have many friends, but at least she has her empire. From her table at the back of the cafeteria, Glad arranges favors for her classmates in exchange for their friendship. She solves every problem, handles every situation, and saves every butt. 
But the jobs keep getting harder, and when Glad decides the problem that most needs fixing is her parents' relationship, she finds herself in way over her head. She'll have to call in all her favors and use all her skills to help the person who most needs it―herself.

Let Me Fix That for You

Humor

MANIPULATIVE. TRAINWRECK. PSYCHO. Elizabeth Madigan needs too much love. As the neglected daughter of a beautiful, selfish mother, she learned early in life how to get attention through lies, but it's never enough. At age eight, she pretends to have cancer. At age twelve, she lives a thousand lives online. At age seventeen, she's in inpatient treatment for self-harm, blaming it on trauma from her past. But what exactly is her damage? If she knew, maybe she could stop herself before she gets busted for good. But she's been lying so long, she's starting to forget what's real. And as her passionate need for her girl friends' attention grows, she'll do anything to keep them in her life -- including risk it. Told in four sections ("Beth," "Betty," "Eliza," and "Elizabeth"), I, LIAR is about the way we rewrite our histories, remake our selves, and revisit the same storylines and characters throughout our lives. It's about the longing for maternal love, the passionate intensity of female friendships, and where those two overlap. From an all-girl psych rehab to a feminist bookstore to a lesbian bar in Brooklyn, I, LIAR illuminates the intimate world of women's relationships -- with each other, with the world at large, and with themselves. For the trainwrecks, for the borderlines, for the girls who are "too much" for everybody else: This is for you.

I, Liar

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Thought Catalog Books

At fifteen, sick of her unbearable and increasingly dangerous home life, Janice Erlbaum walked out of her family’s Brooklyn apartment and didn’t look back. From her first frightening night at a shelter, Janice knew she was in over her head. She was beaten up, shaken down, and nearly stabbed by a pregnant girl. But it was still better than living at home. As Janice slipped further into street life, she nevertheless attended high school, harbored crushes, and even played the lead in the spring musical. She also roamed the streets, clubs, bars, and parks of New York City with her two best girlfriends, on the prowl for hard drugs and boys on skateboards. Together they scored coke at Danceteria, smoked angel dust in East Village squats, commiserated over their crazy mothers, and slept with one another’s boyfriends on a regular basis. A wry, mesmerizing portrait of being underprivileged, underage, and underdressed in 1980s New York City, Girlbomb provides an unflinching look at street life, survival sex, female friendships, and first loves. “A fast and engrossing read in the spirit of Girl, Interrupted.” –Entertainment Weekly “Gripping . . . a wry, compelling memoir of what it means to stand up for yourself, especially when no one else will.” –Bust “How satisfying to watch Erlbaum survive adolescence and produce a smart, engaging book.” –The New York Times Book Review “Erlbaum’s survival is hard-won, the journey rendered with page-turning intensity.” –New York Post “A fast and engrossing read in the spirit of Girl, Interrupted.” –Entertainment Weekly “Gritty . . . perversely riveting. You want her to survive.” –The Washington Post Book World

Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Random House Publishing Group

And every week, there was the unspoken question, the one I didn’t know enough to ask myself : Have you found her yet? The one who reminds you of you? Twenty years after she lived at a homeless shelter for teens, Janice Erlbaum went back to volunteer. Now thirty-four years old and a successful writer, she’d changed her life for the better; now she wanted to help someone else–someone like the girl she’d once been. Then she met Sam. A brilliant nineteen-year-old junkie savant, the product of a horrifically abusive home, Sam had been surviving alone on the streets since she was twelve and was now struggling for sobriety against the adverse health effects of long-term drug abuse. Soon Janice found herself caring deeply for Sam, following her through detoxes and psych wards, halfway houses and hospitals, becoming ever more manically driven to save her from the sickness and sadness leftover from Sam’s terrible past. But just as Janice was on the verge of becoming the girl’s legal guardian, she made a shocking discovery: Sam was sicker than anyone knew, in ways nobody could have imagined. Written with startling candor and immediacy, Have You Found Her is the story of one woman’s quest to save a girl’s life–and the hard truths she learns about herself along the way. “A rich and compelling account . . . Ultimately this is a book about the narrator’s journey and the dangers that attend the urge within us all to believe we can save another soul. A terrific read.” –Cammie McGovern, author of Eye Contact

Have You Found Her: A Memoir

Parenting & Relationships

Villard

Square Fish

A funny and heartfelt realistic middle-grade novel about friendship, family, and the meaning of luck, from author Janice Erlbaum. 
Eighth-grader Emma Macintyre could use some good luck. The popular kids at her school ignore her, the boy she likes is out of her league, and her best friend has been ditching her for the mean girls. Worst of all, her beloved Aunt Jenny died recently, leaving Emma and her single mom reeling with grief.
Then Emma receives a mysterious letter with no return address. The letter promises that ten lucky little things will happen to her over the next thirty days―she just has to make a list of what she wants. When the things on her list start coming true, she races to understand what’s happening. How does this lucky letter work? Who sent it? And what’s going to happen when the thirty days are done?
Praise for Lucky Little Things:
"With so many different subplots, a wide variety of readers will find this story relatable. The consistent reminders about the letter keep the story moving forward and create an irresistible page-turner." ―School Library Journal
"Erlbaum’s first book for young readers is freshly voiced, modern, and accessible . . . Books that speak directly to the experiences of upper middle-schoolers are rare these days, often falling into the gap between middle grade and YA. A refreshingly honest look at the true meaning of luck." ―Booklist

Just two hours ago, I had been heating up some lentil soup at my mom’s in Brooklyn, thinking I’d eat it and maybe read some Edith Wharton before bed. Now here I was at a runaway shelter, staring at a nun’s mustache and wondering where I was going to spend the rest of my adolescence. At fifteen, sick of her mom’s spineless reactions to abusive men–and afraid of her stepfather’s unpredictable behavior–Janice Erlbaum walked out of her family’s apartment and never returned. What followed that fateful decision is the heart of this amazing, fascinating, and disturbing memoir. From her first frightening night at a shelter, trying to sleep in a large room filled with yelling girls, Janice knew she was in over her head. She was beaten up, shaken down, and nearly stabbed by a pregnant girl. But it was still better than living at home. Just like that, she was halfway homeless, always one step away from being sent “upstate to Lockdown.” As Janice slipped further into street life, she nevertheless continued to attend high school, harbor crushes, even play the lead in the spring production of Guys and Dolls. She also roamed the streets, clubs, bars, and parks of New York City with her two best girlfriends, on the prowl for hard drugs and boys on skateboards. Together they scored coke at Danceteria, smoked angel dust in East Village squats, commiserated over their crazy mothers, and slept with one another’s boyfriends on a regular basis. Janice Erlbaum paints a wry, mesmerizing portrait of being underprivileged, underage, and underdressed in the 1980s, bouncing from shelters to group homes, from tenement squats to legendary nightclubs. A moving and tremendously entertaining ride through the seediest parts of New York City, Girlbomb provides an unflinching look at street life, survival sex, female friendships, and first loves.

Community & Culture

Random House Australia

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Erlbaum, Janice. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Erlbaum, Janice

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Erlbaum, Janice. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Lucky Little Things

Let Me Fix That for You

I, Liar

Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir

Have You Found Her: A Memoir

Let Me Fix That for You

Lucky Little Things

Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir

Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir