Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

For those of you who are singing Whitesnake in their heads right now–you’re welcome. I hope you enjoyed that trip down memory lane! For those of you who are rolling your eyes at my flakiness yet again–yeah, I know. But we’ve had various things going on here, and sometimes mental energy and concentration are hard to come by, you know?

Anyway. Flagging mental energy notwithstanding, last night I finished reading Kelly Jones’ Sauerkraut aloud to my 12-year-old, and I can’t bring myself to let it sit around the house for another week when I could review it tonight and bring it back to the library tomorrow (Tuesday being my current library day). If my review reflects tired, less-than-stellar writing, well–I feel like there’s a lot of that going around lately.

On the bright side, however, my girlie and I both got quite a kick out of Sauerkraut. HD is a thoroughly likable protagonist, and his African-German-American heritage makes for an unusual but fabulous mix. His parents are good, solid parents–we need more of those, in and out of literature–and Eli is the kind of friend I wish more kids had at that age. (Asad, of course, is a typical younger brother. Which is both good AND bad!) More than anyone else, however, it is Oma who steals the show–the ghost of HD’s great-great-grandmother. Her obsession with sauerkraut and her yearning for her family complicate HD’s life at times, but that only makes her character and the ending more delightful. This is a story about heritage, about family and why it matters, about friendship and personal goals and accomplishments–and about sauerkraut. (Also about various other German foods, but mostly sauerkraut. Have I mentioned that I quite enjoy good sauerkraut?) If you’re looking for a Christmas book for a middle school boy who likes computers and his extended family, Sauerkraut is an excellent option. (It’s also a fabulous read if you want to alternately laugh, cry a little, and hit your nearest German deli on the way home.) Enjoy!