Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Not for ME, you understand. But one of the reasons I didn’t manage to post before now is that the kids and I headed up to Logan last Friday to hang with my great nephew while my niece and her hubby went to the hospital so she could get induced. (She was only at 36 weeks, but her amniotic fluid was low.) It was snowing and visibility got a little sketchy, but we’d prayed for the roads to be fine, and the roads were fine, and we were grateful. We packed a lot in–the Lazy One outlet, the Olive Garden, and Gossner Dairy–before my sister came to take over and we headed back to Clearfield for dinner and then home. (It was a longer drive than usual because Sardine Canyon was closed on the way up, and I was too afraid of people getting carsick to face it on the way back.)

Saturday and Sunday were taken up with General Conference, tasks, and family, and so you have me today! And while I DID finish an audiobook this morning, that’s not the review you get, because my 13-year-old and I finished reading Merci Suarez Changes Gears (please pretend there’s an accent over that first “a”!) last Sunday–as in, a week ago yesterday. And if I review it today, it can go back to the library tomorrow, which means it will be out of my house, and that’s always a good thing.

The simplest thing to say about Merci Suarez, of course, is that you should just go read it yourself, because it was excellent; that, however, would be a copout. Merci is smart, hardworking, and NOT one of those sixth graders who race frantically into adolescence and all of the changes it brings. She loves soccer and wishes boy-girl relations at school weren’t all weird now, but she has bigger problems; her beloved grandfather is starting to act strangely and forget things, her relationship with her older brother is up and down, and her twin cousins (who live next door) drive her crazy. At school, the queen bee of her class is making her life difficult and friend groups are shifting, which is MORE complicated because she’s a scholarship student there; her family isn’t rich like most of her classmates’ families. How she deals with what life brings her is at the heart of Meg Medina’s Newbery Medal-winning novel, and isn’t that something we all need practice with?

Seriously, though. You should read it. My girlie and I are definitely planning on reading the sequel together–and probably the sequel’s sequel. We’ll keep you posted!