Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

(I didn’t even realize I missed Friday.)

So–I just finished our latest read-aloud with my 14-year-old, but my brain turns into a pumpkin by dinnertime these days, so I don’t have it in me to review it now. Unfortunately, the last few new recipes I’ve tried have been either frustrating or lackluster, so I’m not really feeling posting those, either. I think I’m just going to wish y’all a Happy Halloween, then. Be safe tomorrow night–and I’ll post again on Wednesday!

This is a beautiful thing, folks. Sadly, we have no piano because our piano teacher’s husband passed away (he was on hospice, so it at least wasn’t a shock), but the trunk or treat this Saturday night means no youth activity on Wednesday, and we have no dance because it’s the dance teacher’s school district’s fall break. Today is blessedly free during the day as well–other than making sure an overlooked library book gets back to the library, I have zero things that MUST be done today. I was thinking I’d cut up a crockpot of apples for apple butter, but I had to clean up the kitchen first, and now I’m thinking I might attack our food room instead.

There are, of course, plenty of things I can (and should) be doing.

Anyway. Before I head down to said food room, I figured I’d review Cynthia Lord’s Home Away From Home, since I finished that on Monday. It’s her newest and it’s set in Maine, which I love; Mia is staying with her grandmother in Stone Harbor for the summer while her mom gets their house ready to sell. She’s not thrilled about moving, but her parents are divorced and her mom and Scott, her mom’s boyfriend, are buying a house together. When her grandmother’s new neighbors make Maine feel different as well, Mia’s resulting defensiveness leads to some unfortunate decisions on her part.

Some of those decisions involve phone use and online choices, which is why I’m thoroughly excited to give this to my 14-year-old now that I’m done (she got her first phone in August). Mia is a good kid and means well, but she doesn’t think through the possible consequences of her choices, and the parent in me is hoping that her story will help my child gain some wisdom without the necessity of personal experience. My daughter is also enough of an animal lover that she’ll probably relate to the birder aspect of the plot more than I did, so that’s another win. Ultimately, Cynthia Lord’s writing style is better suited to my daughter than to me, and since that means Lord knows her target audience, that’s all to the good. Birders and tweens/younger teens should enjoy this one, as well as those who have a parent with issues. I’ll let you know what my daughter thinks!

Also known as “Why I haven’t posted for almost two weeks”, as I’m sure you’ve guessed. We spent fall break in Idaho–leaving the morning of the 12th and coming home on the 16th–and I was busy enough prepping that I didn’t manage a post on the 11th. The day after we arrived I took the three older kiddos–my youngest was NOT interested–to meet my brother and various camping friends of his at Bruneau Dunes State Park, which (according to the website) “boasts the tallest single-structured sand dune in North America.” Only my oldest made it to the bigger dune–we started off at the smaller one and discovered that my 14-year-old wasn’t at all keen on the height of that one, while my particular 11-year-old climbed up and went down a few times before reaching his limit of SAND. I can’t say I blame him, really–it was windy, and while I’ve been to enough beaches that I can completely deal with sand from the neck down, sand blowing in my mouth and ears and sticking to my lips is just not pleasant. I took my middles home after lunch, and only my oldest stayed to hike up the big one and recreate more with cousins.

The rest of the trip was spent with family–eating, visiting my great-nieces and great-nephew that moved into my parents’ neighborhood this fall (as well as their mom–their dad was away training for work), and heading to DI to find magical items we didn’t know we needed. My niece spoke in church, I cut my foot on a pair of garden shears left on the patio while racing to let the 4-year-old into the house before she had an accident, and my oldest two went to a haunted house/corn maze that cost more and went later than I realized when I said yes. (Such is life–and parenting.) We were going to visit a state park with an Oregon Trail visitor and education center on the way home, but the visitors’ center was closed, so we decided to visit Golden Spike National Historical Park instead. It made for a bit more of a drive and some hangriness by the time we got home, but it was still neat to see (although also more expensive than I was hoping for). I’m thinking next year, when I have my last 4th grader, we should plan to visit our closest National Parks while it’s free.

Once we got home, of course, we got sucked into the whirlwind of school, appointments (both orthodontic and therapeutic), dance, Health Night at the elementary school, family pictures (I HATE, LOATHE, DESPISE, and ABOMINATE prepping for family pictures), and my son’s first band concert. (Which was touch and go there for a bit. When reminded that it was coming up in a few days, he went into panic attack mode and declared that he wouldn’t do it. Ultimately, we agreed that only I and Big Teddy (his comfort stuffie) would go, but my 14-year-old wanted to see her friends, and when I hesitantly approached him about her coming as well, he agreed with surprising calm. It ended up being a lot of stress beforehand but pretty chill the evening of, which was an incredible relief.) On Saturday I took the littles to pick apples at a friend’s orchard while my oldest stayed home not feeling terrific and my hubby took the 14-year-old to the Taylor Swift movie. The BYU game started at 5, which combination of events explains why my house still looks like a disaster instead of attaining its usual Saturday semblance of order.

This morning I did dishes, cut up a pot of apples to cook down into applesauce, and then turned my attention to the terrifying disarray that my computer area had become. It’s nowhere near perfect, of course, but progress has been made! My last item of blog business before I turn my attention to other projects is the graphic novel that I finished Saturday night and passed on to my youngest yesterday. Mat Heagerty’s Lumberjackula sounded bizarre but entertaining when my friend Britt and I came across it online; given its length (only a hundred and fifty or so pages) and its subject matter, I couldn’t resist putting it on hold and pushing through it myself so that kids could read it in October.

Spoiler alert? It was DEFINITELY bizarre. I’m not sure why Jack’s town seemed to be populated solely by Vampires and Lumberjacks (or why Lumberjacks are a species) while the next town or so over has a veritable “Monsters, Inc.” level of creature variety; on the other hand, it’s not MY fantasy world, so why not? It’s easy to sympathize with a kid who wants to please both his parents and so feels caught between his two heritages–although there’s an element of farce in how reminiscent his solo burn-off-steam-dance-sessions are to Kevin Bacon’s in “Footloose.” My biggest complaint is really more of a personal issue; plots where the lie goes on and on and ON have always driven me crazy. On the other hand, I don’t doubt that plenty of kids will completely understand Jack’s continued deceptions, although as a parent, it did bother me that he’s saved from them by other people. Since a book about a blue bearded kid who loves to dance clearly isn’t shooting for realistic fiction, however, go ahead and just enjoy the oddness of Heagerty’s tale; the message of self-acceptance is a good one, and I appreciate the proponderance of responsible, caring adults in Jack’s life. Let me know what your kids think of it!

Yesterday I knitted with my friend/knitting mentor, made pear jam, and did mountains of laundry; I also finished Remy Lai’s Ghost Book, which is why I’m posting today instead of yesterday. (I finished it perilously close to midnight.) I actually had a different Remy Lai book checked out for a while, but when I saw that Ghost Book a)was a straight graphic novel instead of a hybrid and b)I’d likely get it around the beginning of October, I put it on hold and returned the other one. And since a)I’ve been making a concerted effort to address the graphic novel situation in my library stash and b)it’d be a shame not to read a book about ghosts the month of Halloween, well…here you have it.

To be honest with you, the beginning kind of scared me; I have multiple children who struggle with anxiety and are often deeply affected by others’ emotional struggles, and after the first few pages, I was afraid it might be more stressful than enjoyable for them. It didn’t take long, however, before I was completely captivated by both July and William, as well as by their adventure/quest. I feel like most ghost stories for middle graders tend to be culturally European, but Remy Lai was born in Indonesia and grew up in Singapore; Ghost Book is distinctly Asian in its view of the dead, and it made for a refreshing contrast. The course of the plot felt fabulously original, and I loved the conclusion–I’m hoping my children do as well. (I actually think there’s a lovely opening for a sequel, although I don’t know if Lai is planning on it. One can hope?) If you’re looking for a different kind of ghost story–one with hungry ghosts, a wandering soul, and lots and lots of dumplings–look no further this year!

In the meantime, my oldest nephew is in town for training and joined us for Sunday dinner; we’re hoping he can come today as well, although he’ll likely have homework to do afterwards. That means that once this review posts, I get to throw ribs in the crockpot. AND, based on the overnight lows later this week, we may have to pull out the garden this afternoon, so–wish me luck!

I’ve had Kristen Gudsnuk’s Making Friends on my library shelf for an embarrassing amount of time–think years–and I’m honestly not sure why it took so long to make it to the top of my to-read list. (I only got to it this month because I’ve been making a concerted effort to go through the graphic novels I have waiting, partly in preparation for Christmas and partly to have library-procured bribes for my youngest’s ongoing piano saga.) I have to say, though–having now read it–that I’m not actually sure what my graphic novel-obsessed girlies will think. I was sort of expecting a realistic-fiction-with-a-magical-twist kind of story, where yes, Dany draws herself a best friend, but the emphasis is on that being a catalyst for a novel of figuring out middle school friendships. (Which is awful, by the way. My son is currently floundering in that mire.)

What I didn’t realize is that before Dany draws herself a best friend named Madison, she sketches the head of the villain from her favorite Netflix–excuse me, “Newtflax”–show, whom she’s convinced is just misunderstood. Prince Neptune’s head is as important to the plot as Madison, giving the plot a much higher level of drama with a fairly spectacular conclusion. Is it still, ultimately, about how to make (and be) friends and how to treat people? Yes–but in a sci-fi, “that escalated quickly” kind of way. Amazingly, despite my distinct lack of enthusiasm for sci-fi, I find myself committedly curious about the sequels, so I’d recommend this one for graphic novel fans in general. What my realistic-fiction-preferring 14-year-old will think, however, is anyone’s guess.

In the meantime, our October PTA meeting had another amazing turnout, but now that I’ve completed my report for that, I have the miserable task of finding financial documentation for 3 of our 213 members to face. Wish me luck!

That’s mostly what today is for the week, folks–except for my run to pick up library holds and prescriptions. I have paid a stack of bills, I’ve unloaded the dishwasher in preparation for my post-lunch dishes date, and at the moment, I’m eating leftovers for lunch and writing the review I didn’t write on Monday. (In case you’re wondering, I didn’t get to it on Monday because I spent most of the school day at the school, helping with vision screening. The good news is that my youngest won’t be seeing the eye doctor any time soon; the bad news is that at least one of her good friends isn’t so lucky.)

So. I actually finished Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis late last week, and it was a thoroughly fascinating story. The “Anna” of the title’s true name was Zhanna Arshanskaya, and she and her younger sister were piano prodigies living in Ukraine when the Nazis invaded. As Jews, they came close enough to death that their names are actually listed as casualties at the Drobitsky Yar memorial; how they escaped, and how they LIVED, is a story that lay buried for decades. I shan’t spoil the details for you, because (unless you have a serious aversion to verse novels) this is a story you should absolutely read for yourself. Susan Hood (who collaborated with Gred Dawson, Zhanna’s son) incorporates a number of specific poetic forms into what is mostly free verse, and recognizing some of them (even if I’d forgotten their official names) upped my enjoyment of the format just that much more. Holocaust narratives are usually a poignant reminder that fear can bring out the best OR the worst in people, and Zhanna’s story is no exception; don’t miss this one.