Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I was actually ready to post on the 29th–back to normal and everything–but we had no internet. As in, no internet AT ALL, meaning no home phone (no dial tone!) and no email. (This has happened for more than one long stretch of time in the last week, and it was really quite annoying.) The Comcast/Xfinity guy came yesterday morning, however, and so we are back in business. (Hallelujah!) On to my last book review of the year!

I mean to finish Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet before Christmas, since I was giving it to my 8-year-old as a gift; life happened, however, and so while I’d flipped through it thoroughly before Christmas morning, I didn’t actually finish it until a day or two afterwards. Luckily, finishing it just made me happier about giving it as a gift, because Omar is completely likable. Learning about day-to-day Muslim life from him was fun, and his interactions with his classmates and cousin felt real to me. (I guess I’m not an elementary school boy, though…) I’m really hoping that my son likes this book as much as I did, because there are sequels!

In the meantime, folks, happy new year tonight. I’m pretty sure we’re all looking forward to saying goodbye to 2020, so bring on 2021!

I was rather expecting to be blown away by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s Fighting Words, based on my friend Abbie’s review–which you can read at

https://mybookishadventures.blogspot.com/2020/10/fighting-words.html–but that didn’t lessen the impact of the blowing away even a little bit. Because WOW.

Fighting Words deals with child sexual abuse, in a way that is painful and hopeful and empowering all at once. Della and her sister, Suki, have never had it easy–still don’t–and yet when they end up in foster care, they find that allies (just like abusers) don’t always look the part. Watching them get the help they need–and find their voices–and start to heal–is a privilege that comes with both tears and laughter. I’m handing this off to my older two daughters, in the hopes that it will make them better allies to those who need them.

I also think it will hold them spellbound.

And for the record, I thought the use of “snow” was genius.

Seriously, people. I’ve been putting off this review partly because I loved The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise SO DANG MUCH; how do you do justice to a book that was so thoroughly engrossing? My second girlie is beyond impatient at how long I’ve been taking with it, however, and since it’s a Battle of the Books title, she’s got a valid point. Here goes!

First off, there are some stretches of reality in this book, which is par for the course based on the other Dan Gemeinhart book I’ve read.

I don’t care.

Coyote’s journey on her school-bus-home, the friends she picks up along the way, Ivan the cat-alyst, Rodeo–I loved it all. Her quest to save her memories tugged at my heartstrings, and her and Rodeo’s path in and through their grief was moving beyond belief. If you are a sister, a daughter, a friend, a cat lover, a hippie, or a reader of quality middle grade fiction, this book is for you. Getting more plot specific here feels like it would be a disservice to the story, and so I’ll simply say that my hope now is that both of my older girlies read this book quickly, so that we can check out another of Gemeinhart’s books. Cross your fingers!

I’m fairly sure I spotted Karen Hawkins’ The Book Charmer on the Overdrive app while I was looking for something else; the title led me to read the description, and I promptly checked it out. How could I possibly pass up a book where the books talk to the small town librarian, telling her who needs to read them?

As for how I liked it, well–I gifted it to two different family members for Christmas. That pretty much says it, right? Hawkins’ Dove Pond is reminiscent of the setting of a Sarah Addison Allen novel, and I loved that the focus was as much or more on the non-romantic relationships as the romance. (Don’t get me wrong, I love a good romance, but books in any genre are stronger for being properly focused. Not every book with a romantic element ought to read like a romance.) The Book Charmer delivers a rosy view of small town life while portraying difficult life situations with gentle honesty, and having grown up in a small town myself–not to mention having a parent with dementia, which is one of the difficult situations portrayed–I fell completely under its spell. If you’re looking for a gentle yet substantive piece of southern women’s fiction, look no further; if you want a feel-good read that acknowledges the hard while celebrating the good, this is a book for you. It might be a bit far on the women-centric scale to have been a favorite of Dieter’s, but dang, I loved listening to it.

I’m normally better at giving a heads up when I take time off, but we lost our Uncle Dieter on the 21st, and that was an unexpected sadness. He was over 80 and had Covid, it’s true, but he was such a very young-seeming person, and he wasn’t in the hospital or anything. He seems to have gotten dizzy and fallen, hitting his head. My mother-in-law went over to check on him, and, well.

Dieter was born in Germany in 1939 and emigrated in his late teens. He married my mother-in-law’s sister a bit later in life, and while they were unable to have children, they were happy together. My husband served his mission in Germany AND was able to fly out to help and support Dieter when his house burned down in the San Diego fires of 2002, and I felt closer to him than possibly any of my other uncles (by marriage or otherwise). He was a lovely man who did difficult crossword puzzles in his second language and enjoyed travelling; he was also a voracious reader, making the choosing of books to give him for Christmas and his birthday a pleasure. We loved him.

Knowing Dieter, however, he’d want to hear about the books I’ve finished and have yet to review; since the end of the year is approaching fast and I’d prefer not to start out behind, I’m going to do a series of reviews in his honor. In the meantime, he and Sharlene have been separated for over 20 years, so I imagine their reunion was a beautiful thing.

Auf Wiedersehen, Dieter. We’ll miss you!

Jamie Sumner’s Roll With It has been on my radar for quite a while; when I realized my library had it in audio, I snapped it up like there was no tomorrow. First of all, it looked really good, and second of all, it’s just the sort of thing that my second girlie ought to enjoy. And, satisfyingly, it was quite good and I fully expect that second girlie to enjoy it–as soon as I pass it off to her.

Hence, review.

Roll With It works because Sumner’s Ellie feels so real–neither saint nor rebel, but a wholly normal girl dealing with a frustratingly abnormal body. Her dad’s never around since the divorce, and her mom spends her time working and monitoring Ellie’s health; when her grandfather’s battle with dementia starts to become more difficult, however, Ellie and her mom decide to relocate to her grandparents’ home for a while. Despite being the new kid and suffering the lack of a handicapped-accessible shower, Ellie begins to find a place for herself in her grandparents’ town, making unexpected friends and finding more freedom at school. Can she convince her mom that the benefits of their new life outweigh the difficulties?

This felt on the short side, but it deals with real things, and brings both an awareness and a normality to a not-uncommon condition. Introducing our kids to other people’s struggles is never a bad thing, and Sumner does it well; latter elementary schoolers and younger middle graders ought to both enjoy and learn from this one. I’ll let you know what my girlie thinks!

12/28/2020: She loved it! Mom win!

I have several books that want reviewing–recipes too–but I finally sorted out what my kiddos are getting for Christmas, and being that a week from today is Christmas Eve, I decided that starting to wrap was more important. (Tomorrow while the kids are awake I’m going to tackle the Christmas cards.) Good luck with all of YOUR Christmas preparations this week!

Last night I finished reading Patricia MacLachlan’s The True Gift: A Christmas Story out loud to my 11-year-old, and it was a lovely seasonal offering. Short and poignant, like most of her books, True Gift is a story of a brother and sister, their grandparents, and one lonely cow. It can be read aloud in a sitting or two and understood by kindergarteners, I would think, so if you’re looking for something to enhance the spirit of your Christmas, this is a perfect choice. Happy reading!

My friend Britt read Fish in a Tree several years ago and loved it, telling me it needed to be a thing in my life; I finally got around to it this month while questing for good books for my second girlie for Christmas.

I SO enjoyed it.

Ally captured me from the get-go, and her growing friendships are fabulous. Sometime in the middle of it, however, I went to look at what other books Lynda Mullaly Hunt has written, and I came across a bunch of negative reviews. Reading those mid-book was probably a mistake, as it messed with my reading experience, but it did make me think critically about this story of a floundering dyslexic girl whose life is finally changed for the better by a long-term sub and her own changing attitude. Now, I can’t speak to the complaint by a military kid that the military kid details weren’t accurate; I wouldn’t know. The complaints about stock characters and a story that’s been told before? Well, there are certain kinds of people everywhere, and people all over the world live their own versions of some of the same stories every day. The complaints by readers, some of them teachers, who didn’t believe that a kid could get to 6th grade without others knowing she can’t read? I wish that were the case.

I REALLY do.

A girl who’s moved around a lot? A bright girl who plays for laughs and has strategies in place for all kinds of potentially revealing situations? Depending on how many kids a teacher has in a given class, what kind of budget and extra resources are available, what kind of assessments are given, how the student’s and teacher’s personalities interact…it’s unfortunately very possible, now matter how much we don’t want it to be. Hunt’s story isn’t perfect, perhaps–the pacing and journey are perhaps not fully realistic, and I wondered about Ally’s mom’s lack of awareness–but it’s still a poignant story of overcoming and growth, and those are my happy place. (Add in an inspiring teacher, based loosely on the author’s own experience? I am ALL OVER that.) If you (or your kiddos) enjoy Patricia Polacco or Rob Buyea, then I promise you–this book is for you.

I am NOT normally an eat-the-frosting-off-the-cake sort of person (especially if it’s store-bought, because ewww.) My oldest, however, requested a pumpkin poke cake for her birthday last month, and the whipped cream frosting sweetened with brown sugar and laced with vanilla–I could have eaten that with a spoon. (I may have actually done so a little bit…) I looked through scores of recipes before I found this version of Pumpkin Poke Cake, because that same oldest daughter doesn’t like cream cheese and wanted a sweetened condensed milk filling instead of a caramel one–AND doesn’t care for spice cake mix. (DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY RECIPES THAT DISQUALIFIES?!) I pretty much followed the directions, too, although I added basically the whole can of sweetened condensed milk and preferred it that way (those who are hyper-sensitive to texture might not). I also, of course, would have preferred caramel drizzle and cream cheese frosting; my daughter, however, loved it, and none of us thought it was a hardship to eat.

Out of curiosity, what would you prefer?