Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

That’s how my fall break was, friends. On Thursday morning I left with my 15-year-old and my youngest to drive to Idaho; on Saturday morning I drove to Burly to meet my husband, my oldest, and my son so they could have some time in Idaho as well; on Monday we all drove home. There wasn’t much of a choice, though–my oldest had to work on Thursday night and my son and hubby got tickets for last Friday’s ‘Imagine Dragons’ concert months ago (it was a significant part of his birthday present). And leaving them home completely wasn’t going to go well–my dad’s been asking when we’re coming to visit ever since our summer visit ended. The lovely thing was that my mother made her amazing doughnuts on Saturday, which were thoroughly enjoyed by all, and we had a lovely time with family. What’s more, I was surprisingly, blessedly alert for all of Thursday’s drive and the vast majority of Monday’s–I was barely starting to get a bit tired when we hit the northern Utah rest stop and my oldest took the wheel. Tender mercies for sure.

In the meantime, I listened to Sarah Adams’ The Enemy on the alone portion of my drive and at various times thereafter, hoping to like it as much as I liked The Match.

I didn’t.

I really didn’t like the beginning, but I was prepared to overlook that, based on the reviewer that liked the book but deducted a star for the beginning; when it did get better, I had high hopes. What’s more, Adams knows better than to drag out a misunderstanding interminably, so kudos for Ryan laying things out on the table relatively early on. (She avoids the same quagmire later on as well, but that would be a definite spoiler.) Perhaps I’d better make a pros-and-cons list from here…

Pros:

The aforementioned avoidance of rom com’s most annoying trope

Likeable main characters

June’s family

Nick Lachey

June’s business evolution–and how Ryan’s career path is handled

Cons:

Cheesy writing

The ‘girl gets hammered and the guy stays sober and sweetly takes care of her’ scene–the second such scene in my experience with Adams’ books. (Which is concerning, since I’ve only read three.)

The annoying physical perfection of the guy, as described to the reader over and over. Also, June may have body image issues herself, but that only made the overall male perception of her annoying as well

Not enough time with side characters–more of June’s family would have been fabulous

Hmmm. I suppose, looking at that list, that I liked it a bit more than I thought, but I still definitely preferred its predecessor. Adams needs to work on making her female protagonists sound their age inside their own heads; arguably the weakest part of the whole book is the obsessive adolescent horniness of June’s inner monologue. Yes, she also appreciates Ryan’s tenderness, etc., but while having a less experienced guy and a (somewhat) sexually freer girl makes for an interesting subversion of one of romance’s most common tropes, Adams tries a little too hard to get her point across.

On a different note, wish me luck. I’m chaperoning a field trip today, and I’m thinking I could have used a few more days to recover from our trip first…

That means, folks, that I’ll be using the break to spend time with family, so you’re going to want to look for me (probably) next Wednesday. In the meantime, however, I finished listening to Wendy Mass’s Finally, the second book in her ‘Willow Falls’ series. I confess, I started out the book with are these parents for REAL? on repeat in my head; by the halfway mark, however, I was enjoying it enormously. (In retrospect, I don’t know that Rory’s parents are supposed to come off as completely realistic, given that the ‘Willow Falls’ books are more magical realism, and I probably should have realized that earlier.)

Perhaps I should back up a bit, though. Rory Swenson’s parents have been telling her for years that she can do this, that, and the other–get her ears pierced, get a cellphone, stay home alone–when she turns 12, and Finally begins shortly before her 12th birthday. As any adult could predict, of course, not all of these new privileges turn out quite how Rory expects (ah, the joys of growing up), and her life is suddenly far more complicated than anyone could have imagined. It’s really a heck of a ride, and my own experiences with allergies and bunny ownership just enriched the experience. For every kid desperate to do all the grown up things, well–this is the book for you. (And your parents.) And for everyone else?

Yeah, you should read it, too.

General Conference is always a good weekend, even if the thermometer is still stubbornly refusing to leave the 80s until MAYBE the end of the week. And to cap it off, I finished reading Black Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement: A Black History Book for Kids aloud to my youngest. She’s consistently interested in the Civil Rights Movement–Claudette Colvin is one of her favorite historical figures, if you can call her that when she’s still alive–and so this was an interesting read for both of us. As an adult, of course, I didn’t need a reiteration of each acronym in each chapter, but it did make sense for a reference sort of book for kids, and my youngest was into it to the end. There are both well-known and less well known activists referenced, and a good mix of men and women, which makes for a well-rounded reading experience. (Is that a thing? I’ve been fighting the sleepies this afternoon and so this is not my best work…) It’s accessible for mid-elementary age–simply written without feeling too young–and if you’re looking for a read-aloud for Black History Month this February, this is a solid choice for parents and teachers alike.

In the meantime, we’re still trying to solidify logistics for fall break, which is making me a little crazy, but perseverance is the key, right? Wish us luck…

I am a day late, yes, but I have no regrets–last night I showered relatively early and my hubby and I both read in bed, which is how I managed to finish Let’s Go, Coco!. It was another graphic novel I was pondering for a gift–I’m trying to get a jump on Christmas, since I gave my 15-year-old The New Kid for her birthday–but after finishing it, I’m going to give it a pass. If my kiddos find it and bring it home, fine, but the basketball focus doesn’t really fit any of my girls, and the non-binary/LGBTQ+ element isn’t so much our thing. There were some things I really liked about it, however, so if those two elements appeal to you, you may want to try it.

In the first place, Coco definitely has some anxiety going on, and watching her use her brother’s advice to fight it is lovely. I also loved her eventual realization of what a toxic friendship is and her steps to deal with it–that was gold. I can’t say I loved the art so much, though. Fox (the author’s name is Coco Fox, and she calls the book a (sorta) true story) does a fantastic job showing tears coming and bursting out, as well as other negative emotions–pain, shock, fear–but her positive emotions are drawn with noticeably less detail, and Maddie’s dad’s beard weirded me out.

Anyway. Those are my thoughts on that one, so you can make your own decision. I’m looking forward to eating breakfast and watching General Conference now, so I’m signing off. And if you’re looking for messages about Jesus Christ and hope in spite of what’s wrong with the world, here’s the link; I’d love you all to watch as well!

https://www.youtube.com/user/LDSGeneralConference

Sharon Creech is a lovely writer, and when she’s writing about a family that moves from the city to Maine and gets involved with an eccentric woman and her animals–of course it’s going to be good. In this case, I enjoyed it when we listened to most of it in the car on the way home from Idaho months ago, and when I finished listening to it on my own; it being a verse novel, however, with a trace of shape poem going on, I decided to speed read a physical copy before I reviewed it.

I just got to it, and I enjoyed it even more as a physical read.

It’s a mixed blessing, however, to read about Maine in the month of October. It’s lovely to imagine being there, surrounded by trees with the breeze coming off the ocean, but since I’m doing it from a desert-y steppe climate with at least a week more of highs in the 80s ahead–like I said, a mixed blessing. Still, Zora the cow and Mrs. Falala are fantastic characters, and Moo is a funny, poignant, and timeless sort of book. Maybe I’ll tack it on to my sister’s birthday present…

This weekend was our stake conference, and I truly loved having my hubby with me for the adult evening session on Saturday as well as the 10 am general session on Sunday. (The kiddos were good, too, so that was nice all around.) What I DIDN’T love was my hubby reminding me Sunday morning that his flight was leaving at 5 or 6 that evening. Say what? Of course, it was for a work trip, and I knew about it in the abstract, but my brain had apparently not rendered it concrete on my calendar. We moved our dinner plan up to lunch so he could enjoy it as well, he did park and ride, bless him, and after getting the kids off to bed, I finished reading Vera Brosgol’s Plain Jane and the Mermaid.

It was weird.

Here’s the thing, though–it was weird in a totally good, let’s-stop-letting-society-judge-us-by-our-looks kind of way. (Also in a ‘includes the character of a mighty water demon who looks like a somewhat demonic, fishy version of Toad from The Wind in the Willows‘ kind of way.) Jane’s infatuation with Peter-the-Pretty-Boy has a creative conclusion, the mermaids are an interesting mix, and the resolution of her (Jane’s) inheritance problems made me giggle. Plain Jane is a creative, unexpected gem of a story, and I’m looking forward to seeing what my girlies think of it.

In the meantime, I have slept badly the past few nights, so apparently the medication for restless leg syndrome I’d run out of works better than I’d realized. Thankfully, I got in to see the doctor and got refills today, so I have hopes for tonight. Wish me luck!

The 90s in September are miserable, folks. Miserable! And according to the forecast, that’s what we’re getting today…and tomorrow…AND Sunday.

Ugh.

On the other hand, yesterday I bit the bullet and committed myself to finishing Margarita Engle’s Rima’s Rebellion: Courage in a Time of Tyranny, which required more concentration than I’ve felt capable of lately. Engle is a poet first and a novelist second, so part of the problem is just that lyrical verse is harder in my current stage of life; Rima’s Rebellion, however, was harder for me to concentrate on than Engle’s other novels have been, and while some of that may be personally situational, so to speak, I think the novel’s time frame is also a factor. When you start out in 1923 and end up in 1936, you’re attempting to cover a big chunk of time; when that chunk of time covers both the coming of age period in a girl’s life and the most important years of the fight for women’s suffrage in a dictatorship, a verse novel of less than two hundred pages may not have enough words to fully realize the task. (Yes, I used two semi-colons too close together; today I just don’t care.*) Rima is also illegitimate, and that adds another significant issue into the mix. I think I would have preferred a regular novel for the purpose, you know? Except that Engle IS a poet, and she’s the one out there writing for teens about Cuba’s history, and that’s something worth doing, and–well, I imagine she has to do it her way. To be fair, I found the concept of las mambisas even more fascinating than the intricacies surrounding the issue of ‘natural’ children, so it isn’t as if the reading experience was boring. I think I might have actually done better if I’d tried reading one or two poems (of a page or three each) a night, EVERY night.

Bottom line? Rima’s Rebellion covers a fascinating topic with poeticism. Whether or not her intended audience is going to appreciate it, I honestly don’t know; what I do know is that it’s completely worth reading, but it’s going to take more concentration than most works of youth fiction.

You can do with that what you will.

*You see what I did there…

Yesterday I finally decided to bite the bullet and order a right-hand wrist brace for what I suspect is a worsening case of carpal tunnel in my right arm–because of course, back when I had what my OB called ‘pregnant carpal tunnel,’ it was in my left wrist, and so THAT brace isn’t doing me any good. I ordered three because a)I wasn’t sure which reasonably priced one would be best and b)if I hit over $25 of qualifying items–and they all qualified–it was supposed to be same-day delivery.

Guess what didn’t come yesterday.

On the up side, all three did come before 8:10 this morning, when I left to walk my youngest to school, and I’m thinking I’ll keep two of them. On the downside, wearing one while typing doesn’t seem to be a practical possibility, so the tingly-numb-sort-of-pain is real. My hubby and I did have a really positive conversation with our oldest last night, though, and so I’m still feeling pretty good about life today. AND I finished reading Angela Cervantes’ Gaby, Lost and Found aloud to my 15-year-old the night before, so that’s another up. If we’d known that it’s connected to Lety Out Loud but takes place before it we would have read them in chronological order, but oh, well. It wasn’t a huge deal.

The two books have a good bit in common–both have female main characters who love animals and are volunteering (with their classmates) at an animal shelter–but their conflicts differ; Lety has a solid home life but is struggling with her classmates, while Gaby has a wider friend circle but a difficult home life. Her dad returned to stay with her after her mom was deported, but he’s not amazing at parenting and Gaby’s just holding on until her mom can home…except that crossing the border illegally is dangerous, and so the situation is more complicated than Gaby wants it to be. Add to that a special cat with returning owners that may be worse at pet-care than her dad is at parenting, and you have difficulties all around. The resolution is positive yet imperfect, making it realistic in a way that didn’t spoil the book for my tender-hearted 15-year-old but tore at my mother-heart a bit.

Bottom line? This is a solid book that does a lovely job of building empathy; every kid really ought to read it.

I survived two things, actually. I survived the SEPs, the long day at our niece’s wedding on Friday, and a good start into a major closet clean-out on Saturday–plus a fire with tinfoil dinners on Sunday–AND I survived the adolescent romance that I was vetting for my 15-year-old, who is FAR more easily embarrassed than I was at her age. (Which is baffling, because I’m far more open about sex with her than my mother was with me.) Kisses and Croissants is one of the titles that came up when I looked up books similar to the last clean teen romance she read, and given that she’s doing French on Duolingo AND she loves dance, it seemed like the perfect choice. I’m expecting her to be completely into it–and why shouldn’t she be? It isn’t the book’s fault that I’m at least two decades too old for it.

Kisses and Croissants follows Mia to Paris during the summer before her senior year in high school, where she’s participating in a prestigious ballet program. Her long-term ballet rival happens to be there too, of course, and further complications ensue as she researches a family legend and gets involved with a cute French boy. Did I roll my eyes a lot? Absolutely. Most of what I rolled my eyes at, however, was normal teenage behavior, and the ending has depth in its resolution. If you want a clean teenage romance for your teenage daughter, this is a solid option. I’ll let you know what she thinks!

In the meantime, I need to find a dinner plan, so I’m going to get on with my day. What are you having?

Not that those are the ONLY things happening this week–it’s just that each of my kiddos is getting done on a different night this year, due to my oldest daughter’s work schedule and church youth activities, not to mention the difficulties of getting kids to dance. I’m the sort of person who really, really doesn’t like having things four evenings in a row, you know? I’d rather get things done first thing in the morning.

On the other hand, I went to the temple this morning and I’ve managed errands on Monday and Tuesday, so there’s that. And there’s no school on Friday! Now, if I can only work out our October travel plans to everyone’s satisfaction…