Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

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.