Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I was totally going to review a book last night–I was. Only my parents called in a chatty mood, and that distracted me enough that more than one task got put off. The book in question I shall review tomorrow, but since we’re currently experimenting with all things apple, tonight I offer up this Slow Cooker Apple Butter, which is hands down the best of the recipes I’ve tried thus far. It’s flavorful and lovely and I can get past the weirdness of the texture of apple butter, which is one of the reasons I haven’t been a huge fan up ’til now. I was generous with the spices while still using the measuring spoon indicated, and I turned off the slow cooker just before 5 hours, as I recall. (I also tossed the apples in a few splashes of lemon juice.) If you have extra apples and a bit of time, give this one a try!

Yes, I was supposed to post yesterday, but I was poopered by the time I could have–and it works out, because I finished reading Ruby Goldberg’s Bright Idea to my 11-year-old tonight, and now I can review that and take it back to the library tomorrow. Wahoo! We actually had the book in our house because my oldest picked it out for herself at the library…several years ago. I kept thinking that it was so short I’d go ahead and read it first and get it to her any day now, any week now, any month now, ANY YEAR NOW–you get the picture.

I don’t want to talk about it anymore.

At any rate, it was pretty short for her younger sister at this point, but it was just her thing–a school story defined by an emotional, relationship-driven component–and short makes for an easier read-aloud during the school year, anyway. Ruby Goldberg is determined to win gold at the science fair this year as well as cheer up her grandfather, whose beloved dog just died. Can she build the perfect Rube Goldberg machine while learning how to balance what’s most important in her life? Her growth is satisfying, and although the story arc is compressed into less than 130 pages of actual text, it worked for me. Middle elementary schoolers–especially those interested in gadgets of all types–should enjoy this one.

I have finished another graphic novel that my 11-year-old is going to grab with greedy little hands–or greedy rapidly growing hands, in her case–and I’m rather enjoying the image of her lighting up when she sees it. Kayla Miller’s Act follows Click and then Camp as the continuing adventures of Olive. (Whose last name is “Branche”, by the way. Tee hee.) In this third installment we see Olive learn about something she wants to change at her school and go about figuring out how to make it happen. She’s still well-liked to an incredible degree, but watching her struggle with bad dreams and gripe at her younger brother left me with a better sense of Olive-the-inevitably- flawed-human-being than the previous books did. Miller’s books don’t have the same level of depth as Svetlana Chmakova’s or Jerry Craft’s, but they have their own place in the graphic novel world, and I’m okay with that. Fans of the series and graphic novel fans in general should enjoy Olive’s continuing story.

In more ways than one, really. Clearly I didn’t make Saturday or Monday–not enough brain power, maybe?–but I’ve also gotten behind with “Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales”, and I aim to fix that now. (Okay, so I’m climbing back on the wagon because my 8-year-old reached the one I was on, but still.) We’re not going to talk about how long Lafayette!: A Revolutionary War Tale has been sitting on my shelf, but I have repented, and it’s going out into the rest of the house, where it will be read by several. I finished it last night, and I’m still feeling irritated with myself for waiting so long. Hale’s ongoing series of graphic histories is both a hoot and a brilliant way to teach history to young people, and Lafayette! is no exception. Hale gives us Lafayette’s life from childhood through his career in the American Revolution, and I learned all sorts of things about a man that (oddly enough) Louisa May Alcott introduced me to in An Old-Fashioned Girl. (Don’t skip the Correction Babies at the end, by the way.) These are great reads from 8 to 108, and I’m looking forward to moving on to Major Impossible!

I do enjoy reading Rob Buyea’s books, even if they cross the realistic line on occasion. (At least.) The thing is, they cross it in a feel-good, this-is-what-life-SHOULD-be-like kind of way, and–ESPECIALLY in 2020–who doesn’t need some of that on a fairly regular basis? In Saving Mr. Terupt, Buyea’s third Mr. Terupt installment, we see Peter, Luke, Jeffrey, Anna, Jessica, Lexie, and Danielle enter junior high. Their struggles feel solidly relatable, and their ups and down make for an engrossing story. (Their different personalities are also convincingly and appealingly drawn.) Conflict with each other is threatening to permanently dissolve their friendship when they discover another kind of conflict that brings them together again on their teacher’s behalf. This is a beautifully satisfying read and totally worth your time; I’d start with Buyea’s first Terupt book, however, and read all three (plus the fourth one, due out this December!) to see the characters develop over time. Go enjoy the feels!

When my friend Andrea picked Natalie Lloyd’s Over the Moon for book club a month or three ago, she warned me it was dystopian; she also said that her household had loved it and I was going to enjoy it in spite of its dystopian-ness.

She was right.

And okay, mountain community, children working in the mines–this is dystopian with a historical feel. That’s not the only reason I enjoyed it, though. Mallie is a character that you can’t NOT like, and her resolve to help her family and protect her brother is relatable in a fundamental way. Add to that the beauty of bringing hope back to a hopeless community–plus flying horses–and you have an entirely winning combination. (The narrator on the audiobook is also lovely.) There are some definite plot stretches and questions, but those didn’t seem to matter; the book did too good of a job of bringing the feels. (Also, there’s a legend-like quality to the end, or maybe a waking-from-a-bad-dream vibe, that smooths over the slightly questionable bits.) I ended up thoroughly enjoying Over the Moon, and it’s now headed down to my oldest daughter’s shelf. You should read it and tell me what you think!

My niece and nephew and their baby came to visit us for the weekend, which was lovely because a)we got to see them! and b)we got to give the baby back when he cried. I have to say, I wasn’t missing that stage to begin with, and seeing them with him didn’t change that one bit. If that makes me a terrible person, well…so be it. I have kindergarten through junior high on my plate at the moment, and that’s exactly the stage of life I’m content to be in!

Speaking of junior high, my 13-year-old hasn’t felt well over the weekend, and it’s 2020, so she CAN’T go to school tomorrow; the question is, does she get a Covid test? Normally I wouldn’t rush to bring her in for what appears to be a virus, but if it’s Covid, you want to know. And if it is, well–quarantine. Blech. If she doesn’t feel better tomorrow I guess I take her in, which will push back my peach jam plans. (The winds we had last week picked my neighbors’ peaches for them for the most part, which is why I have plans.)

In the meantime, I’ve been putting off my review of Jeff Mack’s Clueless McGee for months. I finished it in March while we were in Idaho, and so I couldn’t review it right then; when I got home, there was all the distance learning craziness, and somehow it got pushed far enough onto the back burner that it’s just been hanging out there ever since. Today, however, is the day! I actually found the book both hilarious and poignant; PJ’s sheer cluelessness (there really isn’t another word for it) keeps you shaking your head and wincing as you laugh, but his letters to his dad tug at a parent’s heartstrings. I honestly wonder how its intended audience is going to perceive it–how does such a naive narrator read to kids who are likely to be naive about at least some of the same things? My now-8-year-old (he was 7 then) started to read it on that same trip to Idaho, but he got frustrated with the font (it’s meant to look a bit like a kid’s printing) and drifted away. He’s always overtired on those trips, though, so I’m going to have him give it another try. (I’ll report back on his reaction if he makes it through this time!) The illustrations are fun, which should help. Ultimately, I really liked it, but I’m completely unable to imagine it from a point of view other than a parent’s. I’d say, though, that middle elementary school boys should enjoy it.*

*Amazon seems to be telling me that the hardcover’s out of print; it looks like it’s probably available in ebook form, but I’m guessing it will also be available at most libraries.

I finished Cynthia Copeland’s graphic memoir Cub last night, and I am once again so very grateful to be OUT of junior high–although I have to say, Copeland’s ‘predators vs. prey’ analogy made me giggle a little. (Only a little, because there’s possibly more accuracy there than you want there to be.) For me it was a time when a little bit of confidence would have helped me a great deal, but that sort of confidence isn’t easy to develop at that age. Copeland does a fabulous job illustrating this, and her mentor is a junior high girl’s dream. How the young Copeland navigates 7th grade while ‘finding her voice’ is both a fun and an inspiring read, and I’m thinking my 6th grader will absolutely love it.

AND it’s a Granite School District Best Book title!

I’ve decided not to feel guilty for taking Labor Day off, by the way. Holidays are holidays!

Anyway…yesterday I finished listening to Cress, the third book in Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles. It was–long.

Don’t get me wrong–it was also good. I would have enjoyed it more if it weren’t dystopian sci-fi, two things that aren’t at all my thing, but that’s hardly the book’s fault. (It’s really more of a testament to Meyer’s story that I’m reading it at all.) Cress is Meyer’s Rapunzel character, having been imprisoned in a satellite orbiting earth for 7 years or so by an evil guardian who gained her guardianship by deceit. Over the course of an 18-plus hour audiobook, there are meetings, separations, reunions, and decisions, and by the end we are braced for the inevitable war with Queen Levana. The length wouldn’t have bothered me as a teenager (although sci-fi was still not so much my thing, and I don’t actually recall dystopian being much of a thing at all), and that’s good for my teenage self, because Winter (the fourth book) is 24 HOURS LONG.

That’s right, folks. An entire day. Good thing I listen at closer to double speed!

Anyway. Despite writing fairy tale re-tellings–which I love–in a combination of genres that I so DON’T love, Meyer has kept me interested and invested. If you’ve read them, what do you think?

Just a quick note tonight, because it’s later than I meant it to be; if any of you are fans of Dude Perfect, y’all should really watch their documentary. It was interesting and fun and surprised me by about making me cry. Now it’s off to the shower for me, folks–good night!