Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

You know when there’s a series you like but one of the books is the kind of plot that drives you crazy? But you can’t just skip the book because the series builds and you’d miss out on details that matter? That, my friends, is how I felt about The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove. I’ve enjoyed the Dove Pond series–the first two books as well as the two novellas–but this one drove me crazy. I’ve never liked the sort of plot where people are lying to each other (or afraid to tell each other the truth) and won’t just spit out the truth already. Add to that the fact that I didn’t exactly love Ella, and it took a bit for me to get through this one.

It’s not that Ella is precisely awful, mind–she’s talented and fun and has a back story explaining her “wanderlust” and serious commitment issues–but that wanderlust and those issues were still a bit hard for me to take. The commitment issues would be seen in a rather less flattering light if she were a man, and the double standard (and total lack of awareness of the other point of view) annoyed me; the “wanderlust” would be better described as “rootlessness” and I couldn’t help feeling that Ella was too old not to be aware that that sort of lifestyle indicates a troubled psyche. Gray, the love interest, is really the saint in all of this, which is its own kind of plot imbalance. I most enjoyed the festival portion of the plot, as that’s a significant part of the series’ ongoing story line, and the denouement did manage to soothe my irritation some. Ultimately, however, if I go through the series again at some point, I’m likely to skip this one.

In other news, my kids made a terrifyingly impressive candy haul last night, and the younger two had a good time at my hubby’s work thing. How was your Halloween?

for this week to be over. Even though today was actually very productive, and even though it hasn’t been exactly a bad week, I’m desperately ready for it to be over. Except that when it is over, it’s going to be November, and based on the number of things already on my calendar for the month, it’s going to be a doozy. Could we stop time for a bit? Pretty please?

Yesterday got away from me, but I have to review Lisa Fipps’ And Then, Boom!–it’s a ‘Battle of the Books’ title this year, and my 5th grader is waiting on it. (Interestingly enough, it’s Fipps’ second book, and her first book was a BotB title when my current 8th grader was in 5th grade. I still remember going to ask him to take the garbage out and finding him under his bed, almost done with Starfish; he looked at me and said ‘no! I’m reading!’ Which is not so common of an occurrence with him.) She’s sort of patient, yes–but also sort of not.

Back when Fipps’ first book came out, I had my older girls read it after my son and I were done; one of them commented that ‘that book was so good, it hurt.’ It was a pretty accurate assessment. The thing about And Then, Boom!, is that it’s the same kind of thing, but on steroids. (So to speak.) I don’t think my girlie will find it as heartwrenching as I did–parenthood does things to you–but she’s still going to be feeling the feels.

And Then, Boom! is the story of Joe Oak, who mostly lives with his grandmum (she’s from England), since his mom always gets the ‘Itch’ sooner or later and takes off for increasingly long periods of time. There’s never enough money–or food–for him and Grandmum, but there is plenty of love, and they make a good team. Unfortunately, life’s ‘boom!’s keep happening to Joe, and the harder they hit, the harder his life gets. Thankfully, the book ends as happily as is realistically possible, but my heart broke for Joe several times over before we got there. And Then, Boom! is an accessible-for-middle-graders story of poverty, occasional homelessness, and hunger; it’s also a story of friendship and some incredible adults. I wish every kid with Joe’s struggles could also have his support system.

I also wish every kid with those struggles could end up in as good of a situation as he does. This book is indeed ‘so good it hurts.’

Still so much laundry, folks. Still ALL the laundry. Although I did, at least, manage 3 loads and a whole bunch of errands yesterday!

Anyway. We had a whirlwind of a fall break in Idaho with my parents and siblings–my mother made her incredible homemade doughnuts on Saturday, we went to DI on Friday morning and took more than we bought (except that we took more from my parents’ house, and what we bought came home with us), and we watched a movie with my parents before having dinner at my brother’s house on Sunday. Good times! We desperately missed the littles–my great-nieces and great nephew–that moved at the end of the summer, but we still enjoyed our family time. Now it’s back to school for the kiddos, a stressful week of work for my hubby, and all the things to do at home for me. (Although to be fair, I do volunteer at the school on Wednesdays, and so I’ve done that today.)

Before we left, however, I did manage to finish reading Hope Wins: A Collection of Inspiring Stories for Young Readers, and it was lovely. ‘Stories’ is not the most accurate term, since they’re short-story-length memoirs or essays, but the fact that the experiences related are real makes them far more relatable–and impactful. And given the collection of contributing writers–Newbery winners, Rick Riordan Presents authors, authors of popular series, and graphic novelists–my guess is that most readers of Hope Wins will have read something by at least one of the authors sharing his/her personal experiences. And because those authors are sharing real struggles–the death of a family member, divorce, undiagnosed autism or mental illness, the difficulties of fitting in (especially when your racial, ethnic, or financial situation makes that near impossible), the seeming impossibility of dreams–their readers are (hopefully) going to feel seen in a way kids so often don’t. Bless Rose Brock for making this book happen.

And now, back to the laundry.

So much laundry, folks. Not to mention Tuesday’s field trip, which was fun but took up most of the day. (Did I mention I’ve been to the Natural History Museum with all four of my children now?) Today is the start of fall break, and I’m going to officially bow out of posting until it’s done, since I can rarely concentrate well when the kids are out of school for a long weekend. I’ll see y’all on Wednesday the 22nd!

It’s really been QUITE the week, though. Friday was our first Classic Skate night, which involved the ‘Event Today’ signs, and after Classic my oldest and I had a temple cleaning assignment from 9:45-12:30. (As in, 12:30 am.) On Saturday afternoon we discovered bedbugs in my oldest daughter’s bedding, so there’s been a whole heckuva lotta laundry going on ever since–as well as steaming and general chaos. Saturday evening and Sunday was our stake conference, and Saturday night’s BYU game that SO NICELY started at 6 instead of 8 had a weather delay, so it didn’t end until at least 11:30.

So tired.

Also I’m chaperoning a field trip tomorrow. Send some prayers our way if you can!

No one should be, certainly–when you’ve worn glasses for 3 decades or so, your eyes aren’t exactly on track to get better. They’re healthy, though, so there’s that. And I saw my new eye doctor for the first time (the old one retired). The best part of the appointment, though, was probably that my pupil dilation felt less severe than usual, which meant I still managed to read my scriptures this afternoon. I also got to listen to President Russell M. Nelson’s funeral, which was a good experience in every possible way. I can only hope to emulate his life of service in the smallest of ways.

In other news, I was productive yesterday and we’re having leftover night tonight and tomorrow–and Thursday, if we haven’t eaten enough leftovers by then. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to work on other projects when I’m normally making dinner! Fall Break is next week, which seems crazy, and I have PTA things to do. Wish me luck…

Or, in other words, I survived another PTA meeting as president. Only 7 more to go! And as far as the week went, we did manage to sell some shirts at Literacy Night, which seems to have gone well, and the temple (and lunch after!) was lovely yesterday. Now we get to look forward to General Conference, even though it will be bittersweet. President Russell M. Nelson will be truly missed.

In the meantime, I finished reading a book I should have been able to finish in one sitting, if I hadn’t kept falling asleep. (That’s a commentary on my sleepiness, not an issue with the book.) Caroline Adderson’s Babble!: And How Punctuation Saved It is a simple punctuation parable with fun illustrations. Like Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth, it would make a poor read-aloud, as Adderson’s handling of punctuation marks is most definitely visual, but that hardly signifies, given that it’s more or less a picture book. I found it clever, actually, although not as wildly entertaining as Eats, Shoots & Leaves; then again, this is more accessible to any age. If you want to help your kids out with punctuation, definitely give this a try.

In the meantime, if you’d like to hear inspired counsel and testimonies of Christ this weekend, click here and tune in tomorrow at 10 am Mountain Time. We’ll be watching at our house!

I seriously haven’t had the hiccups in forever, and these are the uncomfortable-down-in-your-chest kind. Ugh! I had them for a bit this morning, and now they’re back.

On the other hand, because I couldn’t stay awake after lunch and so had a decent nap, I did manage to stay awake in the car while waiting for my elementary schooler, which means I managed to finish reading Skull Cat and the Curious Castle, and I’m glad–it’s the sort of graphic novel that lends itself to pre-Halloween reading. The curious castle is definitely spooky and there are multiple shady characters; Scully the Cat spends much of the book unsure of the creatures around him. Unfortunately, it’s too short of a graphic novel (110 pages or fewer) to fully develop what’s going on. I kept thinking there must be a tv show or web comic or SOMETHING that I was missing, because surely there ought to be more of an explanation/back story? And who knows, maybe there is. On the other hand, when a book declares itself to be ‘Book 1’, you do expect a bit more setting of the stage. I think those who like adventure comics might enjoy this one, but I’m definitely not the right audience.

In the meantime, I know I should have posted yesterday, but I’ve been sleeping incredibly badly. Saturday night might have gone better if I hadn’t found out just before midnight that the president of our church had passed away; Sunday night and last night, on the other hand, were just mysteriously bad. We’ll see if I do better tonight!

So, Ursula Vernon and T. Kingfisher are the same writer. Ursula Vernon writes hilarious, highly illustrated novels for elementary to middle graders, and T. Kingfisher writes–older stuff. My first introduction to the latter was A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, which was pretty much amazing; both hilarious and thought-provoking, with some hefty feels as it progressed. My second foray into Kingfisher I finished listening to on Wednesday evening, and it was…creepy.

SO creepy.

The thing is, I should have expected it, because it came from the horror section. On the other hand, the comparatively medium-sized gap between Ursula Vernon and A Wizard’s Guide didn’t really prepare me for A House with Good Bones. It started out hilarious and atmospheric and suspenseful, but the ending would have given me nightmares if this sort of fiction were the sort of thing that gave me nightmares. (It doesn’t, though. It never has. I get bad dreams when I read, say, books about the Holocaust before bed, and then they tend to involve some form of being chased by the Nazis.) Sam is a bug archeologist whose dig got postponed because they found human remains; having expected to be gone for months, she finds herself temporarily homeless and so ends up staying with her mother, who lives in her mother’s house. Something about that house, however–and something about Sam’s mother–feels off. Being a scientist, Sam starts by researching whatever rational explanations she can think of, but when some of her research bumps into some of her family history, the possibilities start to get considerably less rational.

Also, there are vultures.

Anyway. Apart from the language, which was not ideal (especially for an audiobook), I did enjoy A House with Good Bones; Sam and her mother are thoroughly likable, as are Gail (a neighbor) and Phil (the handyman). Kingfisher’s writing voice feels rather like a funnier (and more focused?) Robin McKinley–and I do love Robin McKinley. If you choose to handle the language, this is an incredible read for Halloween.

In the meantime, this insane week is almost over, and I am DESPERATELY glad. Here’s to a relatively chill weekend!