Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I just finished reading Squished, and I have to say–if Christmas weren’t over for the year, I’d have a hard time choosing between Squished and the graphic novels that I actually did give my 14-year-old. Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter have created a fantastic portrait of a family of seven, focusing on Avery, the oldest girl. Avery has an older brother and 5 younger siblings and is desperate for her own room; she gets teased about and is often embarrassed by her large family, and yet her love for them shines through. She’s already facing changes like starting middle school and friend dynamic shifts, however, and when she learns a bigger change might be coming, she is NOT happy about it. How she ends up coping makes for a thoroughly satisfying story, and I’m expecting my graphic novel girls to love it.

Of course, they won’t actually get it until they come home from Grandma’s house, but it will be something they can look forward to, right? In the meantime, I still have a couple of days to chip away at the things I’d like to accomplish while they’re gone. Wish me luck!

Honestly? Our Christmas was lovely. The kiddos were thrilled, we spent time with family and played games–we are blessed. The days after Christmas, of course, find the kiddos squabbling and the house a bit of a disaster, but as of yesterday at 4, those kiddos are at Grandma’s house and my hubby and I are enjoying an anniversary stay-cation. (Well, I am. He does have to go to work today.) My docket for today includes deleting a whole ton of emails (because that situation isn’t pretty), going through pictures on my phone so those can be deleted, and reviewing books I’ve finished this year but haven’t gotten to yet. Which is why we’re here…

So. I finished reading The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree aloud to my 14-year-old the other day, and while it had plenty of sad parts, I think we both enjoyed it. After all, you know going in that Mafalda is going blind, so you’re prepared for much (although not all) of the sadness, right? And there are moments of hilarity plus a few good friends. Ultimately, this is a valuable read for anyone enduring (or preparing to endure) a significant trial. (And it’s got a cat!) I picked it up because it was a Batchelder Honor book in 2020–that’s the annual award for outstanding children’s books published outside the US and translated into English–and I’m glad I did. Let me know what you think!

One of my book groups picked Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End a couple of months ago, although it took me several weeks to move through the hold list at the library; when I started it I was fascinated but busy, and since I couldn’t up the speed much because of some of the vocabulary, I ran out of time and it was automatically returned when I was only half done. Since then I’d been diligently waiting for it to come in again–it’s a popular book–until a week ago, and it remained SO fascinating that I finished the rest of it in less than a week. My sister and my friend Britt have both read it as well, and we all agree that it’s ridiculously good. It talks about nursing homes and elder care and their evolution, about how we as a society deal with terminal illness, and about what doctors can and can’t do as well as do and don’t do. You know those kinds of books that you keep telling stories from to the people you live with? This is one of those books. (Just ask my husband.) I actually ordered a copy of it for us after finishing it, because A) it has some important things in it that I’d like to remember and B) books this good deserve to have the sales to prove it. If anyone in your life is aging or facing a serious (or terminal) illness, Being Mortal is an absolute must read.

Seriously.

In other news on the mortality front, I learned today that my old boss from my college days passed away this year. Dennis Bollschweiler was a father to me when my own father lived thousands of miles away and I needed one; he was fiercely loving, sometimes crotchety, a hard worker, and a brave man. He had a red face and a white mustache, and his loss fills me with sadness for those of us who loved him and with gratitude for the gospel and the Plan of Salvation–in other words, for our Savior Jesus Christ.

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
ris’n with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth. 
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Full disclosure: I finished Invisible weeks ago, but I didn’t immediately have time to review it, and lately I’ve been putting it off mostly because the memory is fading a bit. On the other hand, I am DETERMINED not to wrap it for my oldest before reviewing it, and so here we are. It may or not be my last review of the day–yes, I’m that far behind–but at least it’ll be done.

One of the coolest things about Invisible is that much of the dialogue is bilingual, and I think my AP Spanish student will enjoy being able to choose which language to focus on. More than that, however, it’s a book for both kids who feel too Spanish in America and kids who don’t feel Spanish enough–AND kids who feel ignored despite having all kinds of qualities worth being seen. It’s a little “Breakfast Club”-ish and a tiny bit “Stand and Deliver”-ish, and the ending reminds me a tad of Joan Bauer. If you like stories about underdogs making a difference, or kids growing to meet their potential, or second chances–well, you get the idea. Invisible is interesting, positive, and almost begs for a sequel or three. We’ll see what happens!

In the meantime, the rest of my day involves getting a pot of apples on the stove to cook down, meeting virtually with my oldest daughter’s therapist, exercising, taking my youngest daughter to therapy, and facing Walmart with some of the kiddos. May the odds be ever in my favor…

In my quest to find graphic novels to give my kiddos for Christmas this year, I ended up reading Saving Sunshine all in one day. (To be fair, it’s barely over 220 pages.) And while the sibling bickering storyline is a risk for me–there’d better not be emulation of that in my house–the way it’s handled is promising. For one thing, the parents’ reaction to it feels incredibly real. (And I feel their pain.) For another, we see how the rift between the siblings started–and how it starts to mend as well. Add saving a Loggerhead turtle to that plot and you have a story that will HOPEFULLY encourage my children to be kinder to each other and respect each other’s interests–as well as one they should thoroughly enjoy reading. Cross your fingers, folks!

In the meantime, despite some impressive fog last night, we did get a fair number of neighbor gifts delivered. With luck, more people will be home tonight. With even MORE luck, visibility will be better. I guess we’ll see. (Or not see, as the case may be. But I’m hoping for more of the seeing.) Good luck with your Christmas endeavors today!

I was getting seriously worried about finding the perfect graphic novel for my 14-year-old for Christmas this year, folks. Although she’ll read ANY graphic novel, her preference is for realistic fiction, so I didn’t want fantasy or sci-fi–or realistic fiction focused on fandoms of fantasy or sci-fi–and book with bits of untranslated Spanish (or any other language, for that matter) are out, because she gets frustrated when she doesn’t understand something, and Christmas gifts shouldn’t be frustrating. I needed a book with characters I don’t mind her spending a LOT of time with, so anything with too many mean sibling comments is out as well. (She’s been a lot nicer to her brother in the past year or so, and I’d like that trend to continue.)

Thanks to the Publishers Weekly list of graphic novels out this fall, however, I came across Sharee Miller’s Curlfriends: New in Town–and hit the jackpot. Realistic fiction? Check. Character who learns to care a little less about what others think of her and be more comfortable with herself? Check–and perfect for my 14-year-old. Cute pet? Check (although Pierre could definitely have more of a presence). Loving parents who aren’t perfect but always try? Check. This is PERFECT, folks. And as much as the whole “I’m going to lie about myself to seem cooler to my friends” plot isn’t one I can personally relate to–the stress of being found out would destroy me in about 10 minutes–Charlie’s life experiences thus far make it completely plausible. You root for her through her worst choices (because who chooses vomit?!) and cheer when she starts to sort herself out; as a parent, I shook my head at her dad in the beginning, but not only is he always lovable and believable, he also sorts himself out a bit during the course of the novel.

Bottom line? This is a story about personal growth and positive girl friendships within the jungle that is middle school. It might be a bit unrealistically positive, but after all, doesn’t that age need all the positive it can get? Don’t miss this one!

It’s obvious that no real posting schedule is going to happen between now and Christmas, folks–and is anybody surprised? Last weekend we had our ward Christmas party and watched an incredibly cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie as a family–it was a second choice, because Plex had our first choice labelled wrong and it wasn’t actually there–and this week I’ve been plugging away at life, parenting, and Christmas. (All three of which are feeling on the difficult side at the moment.)

Yesterday I finished listening to a less cheesy but still fluffy Christmas book, because I haven’t got the brain power for anything else–Susan Wiggs’ The Twelve Dogs of Christmas. Full disclosure: I don’t actually love dogs. I do, however, appreciate people who help animals in need, and I LOVE Christmas and snow and small towns, so this book checked plenty of boxes for me. The idea of a road trip from Houston to upstate New York with 12 dogs is totally entertaining as long as I’m not personally involved, and while I could see much of what was coming from a mile away, isn’t that kind of what’s supposed to happen with fluffy reads? Brenda is (of course) drawn into the small town of Avalon upon her arrival–which is much more dramatic than anticipated–and between the town itself and the cute single dad living on her host’s property, there is resistance and dealing with past trauma and love (in that order). Dog lovers should get a higher level of enjoyment out of the book than I did simply because of the rescue dogs, but I was still drawn into the story and enjoyed listening to it play out. If you’re looking for a fluffy Christmas read/listen, The Twelve Dogs of Christmas is worth trying!

I just finished Kathryn Ormsbee’s Growing Pangs (again, I just got up off the couch!), and I’m thrilled that a)it’s definitely going to work as a Christmas gift this month and b)I got it at Britt’s book fair for $3. What’s not to love? It’s actually surprisingly similar to Shannon Hale’s Real Friends; Katie’s having friend issues (although not at all the same kind) and she’s struggling with compulsive thoughts that make growing up more difficult than it already is; she even has red hair like Shannon! (Please tell me I’m remembering that right, the cover’s accurate, and Shannon really does have red hair…) Growing Pangs is also the story of the author’s own struggles growing up, giving it a solidly real feel (right down to the unfortunate truth that some real-life events lack the level of resolution readers might hope for). The story works, and girls struggling with changing friendships and personal worries will both see themselves in Katie and feel seen–and isn’t that what we want our children to do when they read? (Of course, we also love it when they can escape outside themselves–really, we just love it when they read.) I’m more ho-hum about the artistic style, but the illustrator and the author struggled in similar ways growing up, which makes their collaboration work regardless. If you have a latter elementary schooler or middle grader with friend struggles and/or mental health struggles, don’t miss this one.*

*And if you don’t? It’s still good!

I just finished (as in on the couch, just now) Kat Fajardo’s Miss Quinces as a possible Christmas gift for my 14-year-old; after reading it, however, I’ve decided to donate it to our local retirement center for a resident to give as a gift instead. (Our local congregation collects gifts for that purpose every year.) It isn’t that it wasn’t good–I was thoroughly engaged–but it is incredibly important to me that my children speak nicely and respectfully to each other, and I didn’t love Sue’s older sister’s treatment of her in the first half of the book. It eventually shifted, which I appreciated, but since the child I was considering gifting it to has a past history of NOT speaking nicely to a younger sibling, well…she’s a lot better now, but why have her reread and reread something that might encourage backsliding?

Still, Miss Quinces is a fun story of a NOT-girly girl trying to cope with family and cultural expectations, not to mention the frustration of not feeling fully American while not feeling Latine enough either.* Sue’s relationship with her grandmother is fantastic, and her extended family is loving and supportive, in their own hectic (and slightly biased) way. And reading the author’s note offers further insight into how the story came to be, which definitely adds to the reading experience. I did struggle, however, with how abrupt the transitions in the book–especially those regarding attitude shifts–are. Ultimately, I liked Miss Quinces and I put it on hold at the library for my own girlies; it doesn’t need to live in my house forever, however, and hence–donation.

* By the way, I did like how the color of the text indicated the language being spoken; that’s an excellent way to tell the story you want to tell without frustrating readers with no real second language skills!

I don’t even feel bad about missing Friday, folks. I spent half of Thursday updating our PTA’s checkbook register, filling out my treasurer’s report, and making two tres leches cakes; on Friday we had a PTA meeting at 9, and while it didn’t actually GO until 11, that’s about when I left the school. I had an hour to whip cream and do whatever else needed doing before heading back at noon (with the cakes) to help set up for the teachers’ luncheon, and I probably didn’t get home from that until close to 3. I put what was left of the cake away, did dishes, took care of small details, and exercised before leaving with my girlies a bit before 5 to head up to Northridge High School to see my niece (their cousin) in “Hairspray.” I was going to have my neighbor fill up my low tire but I didn’t get to it; on the other hand, traffic was unexpectedly fine and weather wasn’t an issue, so we drove around the high school until we found a gas station with air, and my 17-year-old filled up the tire while her sister used the gas station bathroom. Good times! The show was impressive, with a boy playing Motormouth Maybelle and ROCKING it, but reality hit afterwards–the weather had become an issue. As I told my girls on the long and tense-ish drive home, I’m actually not bad at driving in snow, but nobody LIKES driving under those conditions. Thankfully, we made it home without incident, but it was a late night.

As for the rest of the weekend–Saturday we all slept in, making the day seem oddly short, but we did fit in my oldest’s birthday breakfast (finally!), and yesterday my hubby and I said the prayers in church and taught Sunday School, making it a perfect day for a nap after church. And for a bonus–my nephew’s in town for a couple of days and ate and watched the Church’s Christmas Devotional with us. Yay for family!

On the book front, I’ve been frantically trying to find the right graphic novels to gift my children for Christmas, and I’ve got at least two waiting to review, so here’s the first–The BIG Adventures of Babymouse: Once Upon a Messy Whisker, which I scored for $3 at Britt’s kids’ elementary school’s fall book fair. My youngest is definitely going to be getting this one, which is classic Babymouse–humor, pitfalls, friends, an aggressive locker–but it may be for her birthday, since by then she’ll have finished the 20 regular Babymouse books. This first BIG one (it’s listed in all caps on the book itself) deals with possibly the most prevalent issue facing girls today–body image. (Whiskers are part of a mouse’s body, right?) I love the Holm siblings’ ability to balance positive messages with humorously realistic outcomes, and while the last handball game might have been pushing it, I’ll let it slide, because the Babymouse books are just plain good. If you’ve got older elementary or middle grade kiddos, you can’t get much better than Babymouse in the graphic novel department. The books are short and doable for reluctant or struggling readers, but my youngest is a fantastic reader, and she devours them. Try putting Babymouse under your Christmas tree!