Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Tonight’s activity with the young women in our congregation involved a great deal of walking back and forth and standing around–which means that my feet are throbbing and so I’m writing this review before I do my last bit of exercising for the night instead of after. I just had to sit for a bit, you know?

Anyway. I finished reading Ellie Terry’s Forget Me Not the night before last; I was going to do an extra review last night, but sadly, I didn’t get to it. (Which means that even after this review I’m at least 5 books behind.) On the other hand, I’m getting to it now, and YOU should get to this book ASAP. Because it’s beautiful.

It’s only fair to admit that it’s a bit painfully beautiful, actually. Calli’s mother tells her to hide her tics and not tell anyone at school about her Tourette syndrome, which (of course) backfires horribly. Even more painful for me, however, is Calli’s mother’s need to be dating someone; every time a relationship goes south, she uproots her daughter and moves somewhere else. Calli hates it (as would I). When they move to St. George, Calli meets a different kind of friend than she’s ever had before. Jinsong is also in uncharted territory, and he makes some very poor choices before he starts to figure things out. How that figuring out happens–and what happens next–makes for a beautiful and poignant read. Forget Me Not is mostly a verse novel (which only makes it more beautiful), and it shouldn’t take you long. (Unless you keep putting it down because other things keep yanking at your attention.) Honestly, this book ought to be read and discussed in late elementary grades, middle schools, and junior highs everywhere; if I were teaching in any of those, I’d use it as part of a unit on compassion. Since I’m not, well…I’m highly recommending it to you.