Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I have to say, I wasn’t exactly dying to read Wolfie & Fly: Band on the Run, because I didn’t actually love its predecessor. Unfortunately for me, the sequel ran along similar lines. Wolfie’s parents try and get her to go somewhere with them (in this case, to support a family member), she refuses, they give in and leave her alone, and Fly comes over and gets her to do something more imaginative than she wants to do. Make-believe crosses over into reality for a while, and when her parents return at the end, it’s unclear how far it crossed and exactly when it crossed back. (Sorry–that sentence got awkward, and I’m too tired and lingeringly sick to figure out how to fix it.*)

Yup, that pretty much describes both books.

Here’s the thing. Number one, my 5-year-old wanted to hear the sequel, and it’s not like it’s a long read-aloud. Number two–it would actually be a fun book if it weren’t for Wolfie herself. Fly is a totally fun character, clueless-yet-not, and if Wolfie were a bit more likable, I probably would have enjoyed both books. As it is, she ignores her parents, who just give in and leave, and she’s rude to Fly in a way that transcends bluntness or social ineptitude. Perhaps her behavior suggests her to be on the spectrum, but that’s never addressed–and so, for me, she remains simply unlikable.

As for “one more try”–several of Cary Fagan’s other books (as listed on Goodreads) sound irritatingly interesting, and so I’m going to try one of them before I bail on him altogether. Perhaps, without Wolfie, I’ll find it to be simply enjoyable.

*Also, why this program just accepted “lingeringly” as a word when it cries for spell check for far more common linguistic specimens, I have NO CLUE.