YA novel #4 - 3 days off

3 days off by Susie Morgenstern

This author, though born American, originally wrote this in French and the translation retains a sprinkling of French phrases and a scene where the main character tries to understand an American tourist as they go through the city together.

Now, when the title says 3 days off what do you think it would be about? A vacation? A snow holiday? No, you would be wrong. the main character here actually gets suspended for telling his English language teacher he would like to know what color her panties were. Apparently he didn't mean to say it, just blurted it out. but gets suspended for 3 days nonetheless. he gets up every morning to figure out how to tell his mom. she actually gets fired from the factory the same day he gets suspended so he chickens out of telling her and has to pretend he is going to school. he can't actually return until she comes to school with him. he is a teenage boy, thinks a lot about the girl he likes, wants to get out of the town he lives in and move to a bigger city, etc. All ends up well, he learns his lesson. The whole book is only 89 pages so it is short enough to read quickly. There are 3 sections/chapters, one for each day.