Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

and then I didn’t even get a Squishmallow happy meal, so my justification for giving into McDonald’s (when really I just knowingly ran errands hungry) didn’t even work. Dang it!

On the other hand, though, my hubby and I have gotten to bed a bit earlier the last two nights, AND I just finished Kayla Miller’s Break, which should make certain of my children pretty happy. The latest installment in Miller’s ‘Olive’ books introduces Olive’s dad and deals with her ambivalence about his return into her regular life after living in New Zealand for a few years; it also touches on phone and social media use. (And while I wanted to shake Olive and spell out the mistakes she is so obviously making, Miller’s handling of the situation works much better.) The series seems to be trending in a ‘getting deeper’ direction, which is a nice thing to see; fans should definitely enjoy this one, and younger middle graders attracted to realistic fiction would do well to give Olive a chance.

In other news, I’m liking the Finch app as motivation for accomplishing the regular small things that sometimes fall by the wayside, my dad’s 82nd birthday was yesterday, and I’m making chicken recipe after chicken recipe since Ream’s had boneless skinless chicken breasts on for $1.59/lb last week. Hope everyone else is having a good January!

You know those books that engage you just fine when you’re reading, but that you have to push yourself to pick up? That’s what Scout Is Not a Band Kid was for me. (Maybe it’s because I was a band kid?) Of course, it’s entirely possible that the average middle grade reader will enjoy this graphic novel about a girl who joins band solely because the trip at the end of the year will enable her to meet her favorite author; as a parent and former band geek, however, I found Scout to be more selfish and less likeable than I wanted her to be. On the other hand, the ‘what makes a good friend question’ is subtly but successfully explored, and the glimpse of the (also) subtle differences between Canadian life versus life in the US was interesting for me. Ultimately, however, it wasn’t my favorite of my recent graphic novel reads.

In other news, the Youth Media Awards Webcast was this morning at 6 am (8 am Eastern, only I’m not in Eastern), and I got up to watch it. So many more good books I want to read! And we had this Orange-Maple French Toast Casserole for dinner last night, which all of us seemed to mostly like. (Translation? The littles didn’t like the orange segments on top.) I’d recommend it; it also had the benefit of using up a bunch of stale grocery store bakery rolls that needed to be eaten. What’s not to love?

Congratulate me, folks–I just finished listening to The Art Detective: Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures…

…which I originally checked out and started listening to in late November to see if it would work for my oldest for Christmas.

Go me.

To be fair, though, it was evident from early on that it would work for my oldest for Christmas, and who has the brain power to listen to a scholarly piece of nonfiction in December? I started eking away at it again a week or so ago, however, and I’m proud to say that I finished it tonight. (It’s no coincidence that we’ve finished several puzzles in the last week and a half as well.) I’m expecting my 17-year-old to thoroughly enjoy it–because, well, art–and I have to say, I did as well. The analysis of artistic techniques would be less to my taste, but this is art from a historical point of view: where it came from, who created it, what condition it’s in, and what can be done to restore it (as best as possible) to its original glory. The author is an expert for the BBC’s “Antiques Roadshow,” and this collection of some of his experiences makes me want to watch the show; if art and/or history interest you, this is absolutely worth your time. (And the audiobook is narrated by the same man who narrates for one of my preferred romance writers, which made me giggle.)

In the meantime, I spent the morning getting my son’s glasses fixed (they broke last night at basketball practice) and investigating where sports goggles can be found . This involved making a multitude of calls on my cell phone from my parking spot near the repair place, but I survived. Now I’m hoping for good sleep tonight!

My youngest is as sneaky about finding, reading, and re-re-re-re-reading graphic novels as my second girlie ever was, folks–which is why I’ve got to review A Sky of Paper Stars so that it can go back to the library and GET OUT OF MY HOUSE. (Otherwise she may never read anything else ever again.) I finished it a couple of weeks ago, but now that my oldest is officially done with it as well, it’s ready.

Why my youngest is so taken with it is actually a bit of a mystery to me. Yuna was born in the US, but her parents are Korean, and she’s tired of feeling different–she doesn’t have a phone, isn’t allowed to go to sleepovers, and always has Korean food in her lunches. Her halmoni (grandmother) told her years ago that if she gathered a thousand paper stars together in a jar, she could make a wish on them and it would come true; the morning after she makes her wish, however, she learns that her halmoni has died, and Yuna is certain that her wish is the cause. Can she take it back? To make matters worse, when she and her family are in Korea for the funeral, she realizes that she doesn’t feel like she belongs there, either. I don’t think my youngest is terribly different from her friends, but she is the youngest–the youngest grandchild on both sides, even–and she’s hyper-sensitive about anything she’s not old enough or big enough to do. She’s also prone to emotional outbursts followed by self-recrimination, so perhaps she does feel a kinship with Yuna.

Hmmmm.

In the meantime, I feel like kids with immigrant parents may relate best to this story, but perhaps those who’ve lost a grandparent (or more than one) will as well. My 14-year-old didn’t love it (although of course she read it, because graphic novel), but I’m not sure my 8-year-old even knows how many times she’s been through it at this point. Do with that what you will.

I really thought last week was going to be the week I successfully got back into my routine after break, folks. And I posted so nicely on Monday and Wednesday! I kept meaning to on Friday, too, but the day and its tasks got away from me, and so here we are. (At least I’m posting on a Monday holiday?) We had a (mostly) chill family weekend, with my son passing the sacrament in church for the first time (he said he wasn’t that nervous) and a fun day of family games afterwards. (He also had his first official basketball game of the year on Saturday.) Today we had pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and then, after taking my 14-year-old to therapy, the kids and I headed over to Classic Fun Center. I parked at a table and finished 3 magazines and a graphic novel, while they skated, scooted, jungle-gymmed, and laser tagged (yes, I know those last two aren’t really verbs, and I don’t care). A nice arrangement all the way around!

As far as the graphic novel went, we’d read another graphic novel by J. Torres, so I figured we’d try Lola: A Ghost Story; it wasn’t, however, quite what I expected. For one thing, the title feels a bit misleading, given that Lola is only a memory by the time the book takes place. For another–it’s creepier than I expected, and open-ended. The description on the back implies that Jesse comes to a decision and plans to act upon it by the end of the book, and that’s not exactly what I got. (To be fair, ‘Ghost Story’ is an apt description.) Its most likely audience is going to be kids (or graphic novel readers) with ties to (or an interest in) the scarier side of Filipino folklore; I don’t regret having read it, particularly, but I also wouldn’t have particularly regretted not having done so.

Do with that what you will.

Seriously. The first two weeks of the new year have been jam-packed with things–mostly appointments–that have had me driving around a ridiculous amount of the time. (Except for the two days I had the stomach bug, because I wasn’t up for the driving and so rescheduled.) I took my youngest to therapy this morning–after grabbing bread, prescriptions, and library holds–and my son has the pediatrician at 4:30; tomorrow my older girls have appointments at 11 and 2. After that, things will quiet down a little.

In the meantime, I finished Maddie Gallegos’ Match Point! last night, which means one more graphic novel to pass on to my children’s grasping hands. (I’m still working through the batch I had my friend check out for me when I was looking for Christmas gifts for my 14-year-old.) It’s a debut offering with engaging heroines and a focus on parent/child difficulties–specifically, those between Rosie and her racquetball-focused father. When Rosie meets Blair, who’s new at her school and a passionate racquetball player, she concocts a plan to finally quit the sport herself; it’s then that the complications ensue. (Is anyone surprised?)

Blair was easily my favorite character in this book; she’s just–nice. (A quality that cannot be overvalued, in my opinion.) Rosie’s dad drove me nuts until his epiphany moment, which felt sudden to me; on the other hand, I suppose a dad and an eighth grade girl can take a while to figure each other out post-divorce, and both my dad and my husband are more insightful than average. I think my favorite part (because, hey, parent here) is Rosie and Blair’s reconciliation after their fight–I love it when honesty about feelings cuts through the mess in a timely fashion–but the racquetball tournament has some nice moments as well. This is a solid graphic novel choice for middle grade girls, especially sportier ones. (AND those with parents who would like them to be sportier.) I’m thinking my girlies will be fans!

Don’t be too impressed, folks–today’s victory was getting out of bed the second time. Even so, I doubt I’ll manage more than half of the things I was hoping to get done today. My hubby’s been coming upstairs late for the last week or two, and I’ve been struggling to fall asleep at night. Ugh.

Yesterday, however, was a milestone for my son–he was ordained a deacon in the priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Both my in-laws and my nephew and his wife braved snowy roads to attend church with us, which was much appreciated. And after church, my 14-year-old made her older sister’s birthday treats while I exercised and my hubby and son dealt with snow. (Yes, her birthday was in November. We’ve missed some birthdays at our family dinners in Clearfield.) Our drive north wasn’t bad at all–it had more or less stopped snowing by then–and we had dinner and dessert and games with family before I realized we’d lost track of time and desperately needed to get home and put the 8-year-old to bed.

In other news, my son also started basketball on Saturday, and I finished listening to Elana K. Arnold’s The House That Wasn’t There, which was unexpectedly bizarre. To be fair, the book’s jacket mentions “mysterious, possibly magical puzzles,” but after reading her “Boy Called Bat” series, I wasn’t exactly expecting the sudden fantasy/sci-fi twist that happened about a third of the way in. Oak and Alder’s story–she moves in, they initially can’t stand each other, but coincidental connections start to snowball–seemed relatively straightforward at first, and it ends in much the same way; the journey from ‘at first’ to the conclusion, however, was not at all what I was expecting. Let’s just say that the animals in the story behave in surprising enough ways that I won’t be passing it on to my realistic-fiction loving 14-year-old, shall we? (Anything else feels like a bit of an unfair spoiler.) If not-at-all realistic fiction is your cup of tea, this is a worthwhile book that appreciates the importance of friendship and families, and you should give it a try.

Maybe the 8-year-old will like it.

It was so lovely to have four whole night to chill with my hubby, go out to eat (or have him bring home something), and see an actual adult movie in a theater. (We highly recommend “The Boys in the Boat.”) After church on Sunday we went up to Clearfield, reunited with our kiddos, and played games until 10 or so. Then fireworks, then home, where even my 8-year-old stayed up ’til midnight (yeesh) and it was even later for the rest of us. Thankfully, everyone slept in and we managed to take down most of Christmas on New Years Day; the kids and I slept in the next day, and then it was back to school and the grind on the 3rd. I actually woke up with a stomach bug yesterday, so I attended today’s PTA meeting virtually. (Which was honestly great–I sorted laundry and put a load in during the meeting, and I loaded and ran the dishwasher beforehand instead of having to get ready to leave the house.) I’m on my second can of ginger ale already and so far, the rice chex and string cheese have settled okay, so that’s progress.

I also managed–after switching the first load to the dryer and putting my second load of laundry in–to finish Brad Wilcox’s Because of the Messiah in a Manger, which I decided to read this Christmas season to help ground my Christmas-ing in Christ. I think it helped, honestly. I shared multiple bits with my hubby (and others) and gained at least one insight into scripture. For much of the book I questioned the necessity of linking it to Christmas, because it felt simply like a book of insights about Christ–but then, that’s the whole point of Christmas, right? And Wilcox did relate some of his insights to key figures from the Nativity. Ultimately, this is a manageably short book to read during the chaos of Christmas, and I appreciated the added spiritual note. If you haven’t read it, you should consider putting it on your list for December 2024.

I picked up Aimee Lucido’s Emmy in the Key of Code at a library sale some indeterminate length of time ago; when I realized it was a verse novel AND available in audio, I figured it would be a short listen and then I could donate it to the elementary school. The two problems with that turned out to be 1) it needed a visual reading, not just a listen and 2) it was good enough that I’m not sure I want to give it up. Emmy has just moved to San Francisco with her parents so her dad can pursue his musical dreams, and she doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere–until she ends up in an “Introduction to Computer Science” elective. To her surprise, coding is a revelation to her; it’s like a kind of music she’s actually good at. It also turns out to be her path to finding out where she belongs. It’s a circuitous path, yes, but Emmy finds her way down it nevertheless, and her story is both poignant and satisfying. I’d recommend reading a physical copy of this one–the coding bits and references don’t come through as fully over audio–and I’d recommend it to a wide variety of readers, because I’m not at all a computer coding sort of person, and I loved it. Let me know what you think!

My 14-year-old and I read Life in the Balance together BEFORE we read The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree; I didn’t get it reviewed quickly, however, because it was a thought-provoking book that needed a commensurate review. As time went by, the details faded a bit, which made procrastination that much more inviting, and here we are–probably two months later. (Give or take.)

Luckily, I have this child-free time to force myself to do the things that require significant concentration or a noticeable time commitment, and I’m determined to use it partly to review the books still on my ‘currently reading’ list that I’ve actually finished this year, so Life in the Balance is finally getting its due.

I’m just not sure where to start.

I suppose, then, I’ll start with Veronica. She’s been working towards the All-Star softball team for years, and this is her tryout year; with her softball-player mom’s help, she and her best friend are planning to ace their tryouts and rock being on the team together. Except that her also-alcoholic mom finally agrees to go to rehab, making herself unavailable for extra skill practice, and it turns out that the rehab is expensive–maybe too expensive for Veronica to be on the All-Star team at all. Veronica decides to enter the town talent show, aiming for the prize money to keep the All-Star team within her reach; as she practices for both, however, her feelings about both singing and softball begin to shift.

And then there are friend difficulties.

Life in the Balance deals with a lot of issues, obviously; the impressive thing is how well it deals with them, because you never feel like there’s too much going on. The issues are interconnected (which is where the need for balance comes in). Jen Petro-Roy doesn’t shy away from the pain caused by alcoholism; neither, however, does she focus on that pain exclusively. There are laugh-out-loud moments from the very beginning, providing necessary comic relief, and Petro-Roy’s exploration of how much kids should have to give up for a goal–AND how increased pressure changes our feelings about what we love–is at least as important as the rehab storyline. The friend difficulties feel realistic and stem from caring and real dilemmas rather than drama, making all parties involved feel both likeable and real. In short–too late?–Life in the Balance is a sensitive story about things that matter, making it a worthwhile read for just about anyone.