The Warden’s Daughter by Jerry Spinelli (2017) Knopf Books for Young Readers

Cammie O’Reilly is the warden’s daughter.  Her mother was killed saving her from a milk truck.  She is taken care of by a trustee and is the adopted daughter of the women in prison.  She, of course, wants a mother and wished her father would marry the trustee.  She see’s the other kids who have mothers and is terribly jealous.  She acts our, trying to get attention that she refuses to accept.  When her favorite prisoner, Bobo, hangs herself, it takes time for her to accept that all the stories the woman told her.  She acts out even more and starts shoplifting.  Eventually she is caught, but instead of being punished, as the warder’s daughter, she is taken home.  Once there, she acts out against the trustee who sends her to the one place she has avoided, where the accident happened.  She returns in tears and the trustee cleans her up and calms her to sleep.  When she awakes, the trustee is gone, released for time served. Years later, she learns the woman spent an extra year at the prison just to help Cammie through her problems.