Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Seriously–the Patricias!  How do they manage to paint the pictures they do with so few words?  Last night I finished Patricia MacLachlan’s The Truth of Me, and it was–of course–beautiful.  Somehow, in 114 pages, we gain a clear picture of Robbie, his musician parents, and his loving grandmother, who is gifted in her own right.  As a parent, I kind of wanted to hate Robbie’s mother at first, and yet MacLachlan never let me do it (even before she gave me the tools to understand her).  As a reader, of course, I just enjoyed.  Her books are short and simply written, but oh, so beautifully!  If you have an elementary schooler like mine, who gravitates toward the emotionally complex–or an animal lover–this is not a book to miss.