Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

This year I officially became the kind of mom who wraps a book for her child for Christmas with her bookmark still in it; not cool, maybe, but my son’s too wrapped up in the Battle of the Books to read it immediately, and it was a busy December. I did manage to finish it a day or two after Christmas, however, and it was EXCELLENT. If you haven’t read Jordan Sonnenblick’s The Boy Who Failed Show and Tell, I HIGHLY recommend it. (Apparently I’m all about the caps in 2023, and I should probably mention that I started this post on New Year’s Eve and I’m just now attempting to finish it, because that’s how I’m rolling at the moment.) I recommend it even more highly for boys with anxiety, asthma, or ADD–and their parents. Also teachers? OR boys who love music, have had school struggles, or have reptiles for pets.

Also to everybody. Because I really did like it that much.

Jordan generally has bad luck predicting which teachers he’ll like and which he won’t, but his fourth grade teacher is bad news from the get-go. She isn’t necessarily unrealistic for back in the day, I’m guessing–the book starts in 1978 or ’79–but she horrifies both the parent and the teacher in me. Jordan isn’t necessarily the easiest kid, partly because his asthma medications make him jittery, but his teacher is seriously terrible, which leads to a series of struggles and changes that end up pushing Jordan into a much better space in his life. What kids are going to love, however, is Jordan’s matter-of-fact, beautifully comic narrating style coupled with his every-kid appeal. I’m expecting my son to love this one…once he finishes the Battle of the Books and starts reading other options again. In the meantime, go check it out.

You’ll be glad you did.