Book Review: "Spellbound: My Life as a Dyslexic Wordsmith" by Phil Hanley

Thanks so much to Henry Holt for the complimentary advance copy of this book. It’s available now.

“I always prayed I’d wake up smart.”

Growing up, Phil Hanley had a horrible time in school. His teachers thought he was lazy and not trying, and some thought he was stupid. (He thought so, too.) But actually, he was dyslexic, something that wasn’t diagnosed until well into his adolescence.

Although he was able to get help once educators figured out his challenges, he was scarred by the way his teachers treated him. It definitely caused him to have issues with self-esteem and confidence.

Despite knowing that there was justification for his issues with school, Phil took a different path after graduation: he did some modeling before eventually deciding on a comedy career.

This was a moving and humorous memoir. I didn’t know much about Phil but his determination, and the support of his mother, was really impressive. This book would be inspirational for anyone dealing with obstacles.

Book Review: "Mazeltov" by Eli Zuzovsky

Usually when I pick up a book I’ve not heard of before, I look at the synopsis to see if it grabs me. But sadly, the synopsis can be misleading, causing you to expect something from the book that you’re not going to get.

I saw an ad in my FB feed for Mazeltov, and I was immediately intrigued. A coming-of-age novel about an Israeli boy discovering his queerness while living in a time of war? Sign me up!

The challenge was, this book is told in fractured chapters which jump from time to time, narrated by people you aren’t familiar with, and sometimes they weren’t even about Adam, the main character. So much is left for interpretation and extrapolation—I know some love those aspects of literary fiction, but I’d rather not have to work while I read.

“He always wanted to become the wanderer he thought that he was meant to be and make a home in the cities of his dreams, which were perpetually bright and inexpensive and never hostile to the Jews.”

The book follows Adam at different points in his life. There’s the day his newly religious father takes him to a mountain and cuts his hair for the first time. His bar mitzvah, which doesn’t go well. A school play, which also doesn’t go well for him. Moments of coming to terms with his queerness following his mandatory military service.

While I didn’t love this book, I definitely was taken in by Eli Zuzovsky’s use of language and imagery. He’s very talented; I just wish this was told in a more linear fashion.

Book Review: "A Sky Full of Dragons" by Tiffany McDaniel

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway for this book! I don’t normally read middle-grade fiction but I love a good fantasy, plus I’ve been a fan of Tiffany McDaniel since her debut novel, The Summer That Melted Everything.

Spella was found in a cauldron one night by a witch known as Aunt Cauldroneyes, because of her ability to find almost anything in a cauldron. She raises Spella as her own, and teaches the girl how to make magical hats for all sorts of creatures.

When Spella turns 8, she gets an invitation to attend school at Dragon’s Knob, famous for teaching wizards and witches. But when Aunt Cauldroneyes is kidnapped (swallowed, actually), it’s up to Spella and her classmates to figure out what happened.

There are so many themes I love in this book—found family, friendships, finding your place and purpose, bravery, and, of course, magic. McDaniel’s storytelling is so hypnotizing, and I’d imagine it will resonate so much with anyone who loves magic.

I’m so grateful for the giveaway win and you can bet I’m ready for the next book in this series!

Book Review: "Friends with Secrets" by Christine Gunderson

There’s that old adage that you never really know what a person is going through until you hear it from them. This book is certainly an example of that!

Nikki used to be a news anchor for a major network in DC. She misses the thrill of a breaking story, of having a purpose—not to mention the paycheck. Now a stay-at-home mother for four kids 5 and under, she always feels one step behind and completely a mess. It doesn’t help that with an infant, she barely sleeps.

Ainsley has the picture-perfect life. She’s married to the handsome heir to a candy bar company, she is always perfectly put together and volunteers for everything, and her husband is running for governor. But few know the life Ainsley fought her way out of, and what she had to do.

When the prestigious private school they send their kids to hires a new basketball coach, it seems like a huge win. He’s a former star athlete and philanthropist, and he will push the kids to reach their full potential. But when Ainsley meets him, she realizes she knows him from her former life—and he could be dangerous.

With nowhere else to turn, Ainsley confides in Nikki, who could use a hot story to try and get another news job. They’re both willing to do whatever it takes to expose the coach and protect their kids, no matter what it takes. But it may prove hazardous, because some will fight to protect themselves at any cost.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it would be more about rich women behaving badly, and while there are elements of that, this is more a celebration of female friendship and resilience. It illustrates that “having it all” means different things to different people. This was funny, poignant, and even a bit suspenseful.

Book Review: "City People" by Elizabeth Topp

To a casual observer, Susan seemed to have it all: a successful career, marriage to a handsome banker, and two beautiful children. Maybe she became a bit unhinged in her quest to get her children's private school to serve healthier food, and she was burnt when none of the mothers in her group supported her, but everyone has their pet peeves. But everyone is absolutely stunned when Susan jumps to her death from the roof of her NYC apartment. Should they have seen this coming?

Susan was one of several mothers whose children were recommended for interviews at Kent, the most prestigious private school in New York. The list of Kent alumni is truly impressive, and each of the mothers knows that their child's future might very well be set if they are accepted. But beyond the pressure and machinations needed to try and tip the scales toward their child, each woman is dealing with her own issues as well.

Vic, herself a Kent graduate, is a struggling single mother and author suffering from writer's block. She also was Susan's best friend (or was she?) and she can't believe she never really saw that Susan was struggling. While she hopes that her experience as an alum will help her daughter's case, she isn't quite sure how she's going to pay for school anyway. And she can't seem to get her high school love out of her mind...

Bhavna is a marketing executive for a cosmetics company, almost sure that her son will get accepted to Kent. And once she lands a major campaign at work and her husband closes a big business deal, they can move to a better part of the city and finally live the life they have dreamed of. How far is she willing to go to get what she wants?

Penelope and Kara are best friends, and seem like clones of one another, until you look closely. Penelope is the daughter of a wealthy family and is the president of the parents' association at the preschool. She's determined to prove her own worth as a businesswoman, and believes that another mother, Amy, may be the key to her success. Kara becomes obsessed with Susan's suicide and the suspicions around her death, in part because it reminds her of her own sister, who took her own life.

Chandice, who left her law career upon the birth of her son, faces an uphill battle as she fights breast cancer. The more she wants her son to get into Kent, the more she struggles with the other aspects of her life, like trying to go back to work.

There were a lot of people to keep track of in this book, and after a while many of them seemed to blur into one another. The book starts and ends with Susan's narration, and then shifts between all of the other mothers. Some of the threads were more interesting than others, but overall I feel like the author was trying for a Big Little Lies feel but I don't think it hit that target.

Thanks to Amazon First Reads and Little A for an advance copy of this book, which publishes 11/1.

Book Review: "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver's new novel is an immensely powerful retelling of David Copperfield which follows a young man’s struggles while growing up in Appalachia.⁣

⁣ Wow. I’ve been meaning to read this for a while but figured I’d hold off until I had some time to really get into it. Kingsolver has really created a masterpiece.⁣

⁣ “If a mother is lying in her own piss and pill bottles while they’re slapping the kid she’s shunted out, telling him to look alive: likely the bastard is doomed. Kid born to the junkie is a junkie.”⁣

⁣ Damon arrives in the world in dramatic fashion, born in a trailer to a teenage mother addicted to drugs. His orange hair, inherited from his dead father, makes him stand out, in a corner of the world where standing out isn’t what you want to do. With his mother in and out of rehab, he finds a surrogate family in the trailer next door. ⁣

⁣ But Damon, or “Demon,” despite being too wise for his age, doesn’t have an easy life ahead. His story is one of abuse, violence, loss, being shuffled in and out of foster care, child labor, and so much more. This is not an uncommon story in Appalachia, especially in the midst of the opioid epidemic.⁣

⁣ I’ve never read David Copperfield, but that wasn’t integral to the story. And make no mistake—this is a bleak story; I’ll admit that it did get a little repetitive at times. But Demon is a narrator and a character I won’t soon forget.⁣

Book Review: "Tiny Imperfections" by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans

Alli Frank and Asha Youmans' Tiny Imperfections is a lighthearted romp through the world of private school admissions, with some family drama thrown in for good measure.

Raised by her aunt in San Francisco, Josie was able to get a scholarship to one of the city’s most prestigious private schools. She dropped out of college, spent a few years as one of the hottest models in the world, and then returned home with a young daughter, Etta, and moved back in with her aunt. Josie is now director of admissions at her alma mater, where she gets to preside over ultra-wealthy parents trying to compete to get their kids a spot at the school.

This year seems like it will be crazier than ever for Josie. Not only is Etta graduating—and her future plans differ vastly from what Josie wants for her—but her best friend is determined to help Josie break out of her sexual slump.

She also has to contend with the parents who are desperate to get their children into the school, particularly a high-maintenance woman with boundary issues, and a pair of husbands she can’t quite figure out. Throw in a manipulative boss and the pressure is mounting!

I thought this was a fun and enjoyable read, one I devoured pretty quickly. There’s humor, emotions, backstabbing, a surprise or two (one I really didn't see coming), and even some family drama!

I enjoyed the characters very much, and even though some of what happened was a bit predictable, I couldn’t get enough of the story. I’d love to see another book with these characters—Alli and Asha, are you listening?

Book Review: "These Vengeful Hearts" by Katherine Laurin

In Katherine Laurin's These Vengeful Hearts, secrets are the most powerful currency of all.

Why do I love books about secret societies and mean girls? My high school experience was hard enough without having to worry about some cabal of students who had the power to make lives miserable. (In my day, we just called them jerks. Or worse.)

At Heller High, the Red Court has all the power. Students ask favors of them—some good, some bad—and the Court’s leader, known as the Queen of Hearts, decides whether the favor should be granted. Whether it’s rigging an election, helping you ace an exam or a class, even breaking up a couple, the Red Court wields its power and then will ultimately demand something of those they help.

Ember has dreamed of taking down the Red Court since she was in middle school, when they led to her sister getting hurt. Now a sophomore at Heller, she’s completely thrilled when she’s finally tapped to be a member.

As she starts to take on her “responsibilities” and build her case against the Red Court, she starts to get caught up in the power she suddenly has access to. And when her tasks get increasingly personal, she knows she has to stop at nothing to take the Queen down.

But first she has to figure out who she is. And who will get caught in the crossfire?

Even though I’ve certainly seen this type of story before, I was still pretty hooked on These Vengeful Hearts. It’s crazy how twisted these students can be but most of what they asked for seemed like things you could see people wanting, be willing to do anything for.

Laurin threw lots of twists in here; some I saw coming and others surprised me. I think a second book may be on the horizon so it will be interesting to see what comes next!

I’m grateful to have been part of the blog tour for this book. Inkyard Press provided a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "Today Tonight Tomorrow" by Rachel Lynn Solomon

So much to love about Rachel Lynn Solomon's new book, Today Tonight Tomorrow.

Neil and Rowan have been bitter rivals all four years of high school. From an essay contest freshman year, they’ve battled over everything—grades, SAT scores, pull-ups in gym class, college acceptances—they even had to be student council co-presidents. They constantly taunt and torture one another, and Rowan is hoping that today, the last day of high school, she’ll be named valedictorian over him.

When that doesn’t happen, she has one more chance to beat her rival, playing Howl, a senior-class game that is part scavenger hunt, part “assassin.” But when Rowan overhears a group of classmates talking about beating her and Neil together, she decides to pair up with him for one opportunity for them to finish one-two.

As they race all over Seattle for the game and take care of some other obligations along the way, they start to let their guard down with the other for the first time, and discover there’s more to like about their rivals than they ever knew. Both have been hiding secrets which few other people know, but for some reason they feel comfortable sharing them with each other. But what does that mean ultimately?

So rom-com fans know where this book is headed, but it has such charm and heart, it doesn’t matter that the plot is predictable. There were lots of things Solomon threw in the book to give the characters more depth and I loved them—some things aren’t typically discussed in YA rom-coms.

"But I do want something big and wild, something that fills my heart completely. I want a fraction of what Emma and Charlie or Lindley and Josef or Trisha and Rose have, even though they're fictional. I'm convinced that when you're with the right person, every date, every day feels that way."

This could be such a fun movie, with gorgeous Seattle as a backdrop and great music as a soundtrack. Hope someone is paying attention to that idea!!

Book Review: "What You Wish For" by Katherine Center

Life can bring you down, but you have the power to bring yourself up.

In Katherine Center's new book, What You Wish For, Samantha is a librarian at an experimental school. She loves her job—the students, her colleagues, all of it. But it took her a long time to find that place in her life.

“Dude, I’m not happy because it comes easily to me. I bite and scratch and claw my way toward happiness every day.”

When the board of the school hires a new principal, Sam is shocked to find out it’s Duncan Carpenter. She had an enormous crush on him while teaching at a different school years ago, but he never noticed her, which caused her to leave.

While no one wants a new principal, Sam feels confident because Duncan was always full of life, spontaneity, and joy when she worked with him. But that is not the Duncan that arrives at their school. This Duncan is buttoned-up, humorless, strict, and threatens to destroy everything that makes their school special.⁣

As the morale of the school and the teachers—and the future of the school itself—slips away, it’s up to Sam and her colleagues to take their school back. And at the same time, Sam must try to understand this new Duncan, and help him find his way back—without sacrificing herself or her own life in the process.

Katherine Center is such a terrific writer. Her ability to wring emotion and heart out of her characters is so amazing, and she does so again in this book. While at first I thought Sam was a little too goofy and naive, the more I read the more I understood what made her tick and how hard she fought for that goofiness.

When you read romances, you know what will happen, and ultimately, that’s one of the things I enjoy so much. Thanks to Center for bringing us another book to warm our hearts and perhaps, shed a tear or two.

Book Review: "How to Build a Heart" by Maria Padian

When you’re getting pulled in a million different directions, how can you decide the right path?

Finding your own way, finding who you truly are can be difficult, especially for a teenager. Izzy tries to be a dutiful daughter, a good sister, a loyal friend, but she wants so much more. Her family’s life has been affected since her Marine father died 6 years ago, and she’s tired of moving into increasingly smaller and more depressing places.

But things are finally starting to fall into place. She’s a member of the popular a capella singing group at her school, and her family has been selected to get a house through Habitat for Humanity. And when she becomes friends with the group’s newest recruit, Aubrey, it comes with a side benefit: the girl’s handsome brother, a star athlete at another high school.

After a while though, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep the pieces of her life together. She doesn’t want her friends—or Aubrey’s brother—to know her family is poor and that she's on scholarship, she doesn’t want her best friend to know she’s been spending time with someone she also has a crush on, and she wants to understand why her father’s family never contacts them.

When things come to a head, Izzy must find her own way and become the person she’s meant to be. Along the way she’ll find allies in unlikely places and anger and jealousy in others. But she’ll have to act fast before everything falls apart.

I really enjoyed How to Build a Heart. I found it so engaging and well-written. It’s so nice to read a YA book that isn’t entirely full of angst or seriously depressing situations, yet there was still a lot of emotion in the story. Maria Padian is a terrific writer. She had me hooked on this story from the first page, and I read it in just a matter of a few hours.

I’ve been looking forward to this since winning the book in a giveaway on Bookstagram. Thanks so much to Algonquin Young Readers for making it available!

Book Review: "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds

For many children, when the bell rings at the end of the day, it signifies excitement, the start of fun and adventure. When children walk home from school, the freedoms are sometimes greater since they’re not limited by the confines of the bus. However, there are other risk factors as well.

Jason Reynolds’ newest book, Look Both Ways, which was recently named a National Book Award finalist, looks at 10 different journeys home—each characterized by a different block on the way home from school—and what they signify. They are somewhat interrelated, in that characters are mentioned in more than one story.

From the boy plotting a "safe" route home to escape a dog he’s afraid of to a girl returning back to school after being out with sickle-cell disease, the stories are at times humorous, at times poignant, and at times powerful.

In just under 200 pages, Reynolds tackles homophobia, parental illness, letting friends know they have hygiene issues, fear about a parent’s safety, and other heavy issues, yet he doesn’t do it in a heavy-handed way.

This is the first middle-grade book I’ve read and I was impressed with Reynolds’ deft storytelling. This book didn’t quite click for me, however, but I did feel the balance between humor and seriousness that Reynolds tried to convey.

This will be a good book for the middle-grade audience, as they may identify with one or more of the stories yet won’t feel singled out as they might if they read a whole book about a parent dying or bullying. Definitely one worth discussing with your children or your students.

Book Review: "You've Been Volunteered" by Laurie Gelman

Jen Dixon from Laurie Gelman’s first book, Class Mom, returns for another year as class mom, this time for her son’s third-grade class.⁣

⁣ With Jen as class mom you may not get satisfying answers to all of your questions, and you may get smart-ass replies, but you know her heart is (mostly) in it. And although the PTA president doesn’t always agree with Jen’s communication style, she knows she can count on Jen to do what must be done—even handle the safety patrol.⁣

⁣ When she’s not sending out snarky reminders about permission slips, seeking volunteers for class trips, or haranguing parents about what they need to bring for parties, she’s got more than enough to deal with in her own family. Whether it’s dealing with her son’s suddenly snarky behavior, having to navigate her husband’s increased financial anxiety, or figuring out what’s going on with her two older daughters, Jen’s in-your-face style will get her through—or she’ll fall on her sword.⁣

⁣ This was an enjoyable, amusing book. I chuckled more than laughed out loud, and again, I wondered whether Jen’s behavior would actually fly at a real school. Regardless, Gelman writes in an easy, approachable style, one which engaged me from start to finish.⁣

Book Review: "The Gifted School" by Bruce Holsinger

It's always nice when fiction illuminates the worst in people, isn't it?

Rose, Samantha, Azra, and Lauren have been best friends for years, in many cases since their kids were infants. The four women and their families have weathered many crises—death, divorce, troubles with their children and their marriages, etc. While there are certainly interesting dynamics among the four of them, there doesn't seem to be anything that can keep them apart.

When word gets out that their affluent town of Crystal, Colorado is building a school for gifted children, all four women react to the news differently, especially when they learn there will be a limited number of slots available at every grade level, and decisions will be made based both on test scores and other factors.

Samantha has always believed her daughter, Emma, is practically perfect in every way, so for her it's a given that Emma will be accepted. Rose's daughter Emma, who is best friends with Samantha's daughter, may be smarter, but she isn't as driven or as competitive as the other Emma. But what would happen if one Emma got in and the other didn't? They've been inseparable since infancy.

While Azra's twin sons, Charlie and Aidan, have focused more on soccer than academics, there's no reason they shouldn't be considered for the school as well, despite the misgivings of Azra's trust-fund yet hippie-esque ex-husband. Since her husband's death, Lauren has focused most of her energy on her son, Xander, who actually is gifted, but at the expense of her older daughter, Tessa, who has dealt with challenge after challenge without the support of her mother.

"Parents always want to manage the narrative instead of letting kids write their own."

Following the perspectives of multiple characters, including several of the group's children, The Gifted School is a melodramatic yet insightful look at how competition and envy can bring out the worst in adults, laying bare secrets long kept hidden, in some cases pitting spouse against spouse and friend against friend. The book also examines the pros and cons of schools for gifted children, the biases of testing and other admission-related decisions, and the thin line between striving for equity and creating quotas for traditionally under-represented populations.

I expected the book to be a little more campy and entertaining than it was. While some twists are telegraphed early on, Bruce Holsinger did throw in one twist that upended the characters, and it really didn't feel genuine to me. I thought that Holsinger makes some interesting arguments, but the majority of his characters were so unlikable it was difficult to have any sympathy for them.

There's a lot going on in The Gifted School. There were a lot of storylines to follow, and while I understood the points Holsinger was trying to make, I could have absolutely done without the whole storyline featuring the group's cleaning lady and her family, because it kept dragging the story away from its core.

Holsinger is a talented writer, and his storytelling definitely kept me reading. Those of you who enjoy stories of people acting horribly to each other to advance their children's best interests (or perhaps their own) might enjoy The Gifted School a bit more than I did.

Book Review: "Lights All Night Long" by Lydia Fitzpatrick

Brooding yet hopeful, Lydia Fitzpatrick's debut novel, Lights All Night Long, is a gripping story about family, envy, and being caught between loyalty and the desire to make a better life for yourself. It is tremendously atmospheric, which is no mean feat considering the book really takes place in two completely separate places—Russia and Louisiana.

Ilya is 15 years old and lives in a small town in Russia with his mother, grandmother, and his older brother, Vladimir, whom he idolizes. Vladimir is a bit of a ne'er-do-well, more content to chase girls and commit petty crimes than go to school, but he knows Ilya is the smart one. The two dream of one day leaving their bleak surroundings for America, a country they only know through pirated VCR movies from the 1990s.

When an exchange program between the refinery in Ilya's town and an energy company in a small Louisiana town is created, Ilya's teacher knows there is only one student deserving of a chance to go to America, and it is him. Ilya is excited to finally go to America but is sad about leaving his brother behind, and Vladimir is torn between jealousy and wanting the best for Ilya. But the America that greets Ilya is very different than he imagined, and he's not quite sure what to make of his cheerful, religious host family, although they want him to feel comfortable.

Ilya tries to settle in and make the most of this new opportunity, but he can't stop worrying about Vladimir, who was arrested just before Ilya left for America, after he confessed to the brutal murder of three young women. Ilya knows there's no way that his brother could be a murderer, although he did fall prey to a powerful and dangerous new drug that started holding many in their town in its thrall. His mother wants him to forget about Vladimir and concentrate on building a better life, but he can't give up on a brother who taught him so much—good and bad—and with whom he dreamed of coming to America.

When Sadie, the oldest daughter of his host family, begins taking an interest in him, Ilya shares his worries about his brother and his suspicions that somehow Vladimir is taking the fall for someone else. The two of them begin to dig deeper into the facts and the innuendo surrounding the murders and the events leading up to Vladimir's confession, while at the same time, Sadie shares with Ilya some powerful secrets of her own.

Lights All Night Long shifts between Ilya's life in Louisiana and the year leading up to when he went to America. You see how Vladimir changed once Ilya was tapped to be the exchange student, how Vladimir wanted the chance for himself despite never having made the effort, yet he also was proud of his brother. Ilya's desperation to find the truth leads to painful discoveries, but ultimately, hope that he can save his brother from the things that might do him harm.

While I felt like the book took a while to really get moving, in the end I really enjoyed this story. It was definitely more of a mystery than I had anticipated, which is fine, and I thought the story would concentrate more on Ilya's life in Louisiana than recounting the past, but it all worked for me, mainly because Fitzpatrick is a terrific storyteller. As I mentioned earlier, she was able to vividly capture both the chill of Ilya's Russian town and the heat of the Louisiana bayou, and she deftly captured Ilya's experience adjusting to life in America.

It's often hard to realize how lucky we are when we're confronted with a crisis at the same time. Lights All Night Long is a moving story of the sacrifices we make for those we love, sacrifices which go unnoticed until it might be too late. With this book, Fitzpatrick proves that she's definitely an author to follow in the future to see what she does next.

Book Review: "In the Fall They Come Back" by Richard Bausch

Ben Jameson is fresh out of graduate school when he lands a teaching job at a small private school in Northern Virginia, Glenn Acres Preparatory Academy. It doesn't matter that he didn't pursue education as a course of study while in college, and never really thought of himself as a teacher—the school needs an English teacher and he needs a job. He doesn't think this is what he'll want to do for the rest of his life, but he's fine with that.

He finds the atmosphere at Glenn Acres a little unorthodox, but that doesn't bother him, because his teaching methods aren't quite by the book, either. (At one point the head of the school has to remind him that he needs actual lesson plans, because the state mandates students learn some specific things, not just participate in discussions about writing.) Ben is tremendously idealistic, it's not long before he thinks this job may be a noble calling of sorts, one that will allow him to make a difference in young people's lives.

When Ben is told by his colleagues that one of his students is being physically abused, and encouraged to watch over him, Ben cannot sit idly by and allow this to continue to happen. Even though his colleagues tried unsuccessfully to intervene in the past, Ben believes he must get involved and he must save this boy. Instead of helping, he makes even more of a mess of the situation, causing trouble for the school, and causing him to have to act contrary to what he feels he should do if he has any hope of keeping his job and keeping the student in school.

This idealism happens a few more times for Ben, once in the case of a withdrawn, mute, and psychologically damaged student, and another time in dealing with a precocious troublemaker who is over 18, but is bound and determined to graduate anyway, even if she hasn't to date. In each case, Ben feels compelled to do the right thing, even if he has no idea what the right thing really is, and even if his blundering actually makes things worse rather than better.

"This is not a story about teaching. Nor is it about education, or school, although most of what happened started in a school. This is a story about caring a little too much; or maybe about not caring enough. I really don't know which. The only thing I know for certain is that I wish a lot of it did not happen."

Reading other people's reviews of Richard Bausch's In the Fall They Come Back leads me to wonder if I completely missed the point of the book, because I really didn't like this at all. While I saw the point he was trying to make relative to the fact that the best of intentions is often not enough to change things the way we want to, and how idealism can sometimes be a harmful thing, I found much of this book tremendously predictable, and many instances in which if people had just said what they meant, or what needed to be said, chaos in some cases might be avoided.

I also found the description of the school and its administration to be very far-fetched; while this private school might not have had to hew to all of the same rules and regulations public schools did, I found it hard to believe that a school which allowed two aged dogs to do their business in classrooms would actually be able to operate. I found many of the characters to be unlikable, even the main character, whom you just couldn't believe could be so stupid over and over again, yet his desire to give, to make a difference, blinds him.

Bausch is a storyteller with a strong body of work, yet I found this book to be one of his weakest, plus it runs far longer than it should. However, since many other reviewers have loved this book, you may want to see if you hew closer to their opinions than mine, which might be the mark of a clueless reader rather than an astute one.

NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "Class Mom" by Laurie Gelman

Jen Dixon is on her second go-round as class mother. After finishing her "wild" phase in the 1990s, where (probably) two musicians fathered her two daughters, she returned home to raise them in her Kansas hometown with help from her parents.

She was class mom during that time for seven years in a row, and while working to make ends meet, she met Ron, who would become her husband, and the father of her young son, Max. (Or as Jen puts it, "I met the man who would become Baby Daddy #3 and Husband #1, Ron Dixon. By the way, I still have had only one husband.")

With Max in kindergarten, Jen agrees to serve as his class mom as a favor to her best friend Nina, who is president of the PTA. But she's determined to do things her way this time, and call things as she sees them. No kind, gentle, sweet communication from Jen—she's the kind of person who goes through life saying and doing what she wants, and if you can't take a joke, that's your problem, not hers.

Beyond the occasional racial slur (she didn't mean it) or the request for bribes for prime parent-teacher conference time slots, Jen wants her fellow parents (most of whom are significantly younger than she is) to understand that she doesn't take her responsibilities or herself too seriously. But some parents apparently get agitated with emails like:

"September 27th (aka curriculum night) is fast upon us. It's my favorite night of the year, because it answers burning questions such as, 'Who has the hottest husband?' and 'Who spent a little too much money at the ice cream truck this summer?' Plus, I want everyone to think that Miss Ward's class is the place where people PAR-TAY!"

Jen had thought that being class mom would allow her to coast through the school year, but there's a lot more to it than assuaging the fears of the mother whose child has a significant nut allergy, or dealing with the jealousy of those who wanted her job. Not only can't she figure out the sexier-than-she-should be teacher, who refuses to let the children celebrate "Hallmark holidays," but she is in the middle of a harmless flirtation with her high school crush, who is the dad of one of Max's classmates, and she has to endure the requests of a rich-girl mom and her wannabe best friend.

And if that's not all, Jen is in the middle of training for a mud run (something she never would have imagined herself saying, let alone doing), trying to help both of her daughters negotiate romantic relationships, and is coaxed into trying to figure out what the deal is with the one mother who no one has ever seen. Why did she agree to doing this again, anyway?

I'll admit, I'm always a little dubious when I hear about books which are supposed to be "hysterically funny." My sense of humor tends to hew more to the sarcastic than the slapstick, and quite often I find myself chuckling when so many other people said they were laughing out loud. But I really enjoyed Class Mom. It was funny, and it was a fast, fun read.

I tend to be one of those people who has trouble remembering to make sure my filter is working before I speak, so Jen really appealed to me as a character. Sure, there were times where I thought maybe she was a little bit much, and it was a wonder anyone in her life wanted to talk to her, but I'm a fan of the tell-it-like-it-is type of people. I don't have kids so I don't know if the things she said and did would actually fly in a real school, but that's the thing about fiction—it isn't reality, so you can't get hung up on what might really happen.

The book doesn't break new literary ground, but it doesn't try to. Laurie Gelman did a great job hooking me from the start and really getting me invested in what was going on, even if I had a feeling about most of what would happen. Sometimes it's great to have a book that's just designed to make you chuckle (at the very least) and wonder if you'd say the things Jen did if you had the chance. If that sounds like the book for you, pick up Class Mom.

Book Review: "This Is How It Always Is" by Laurie Frankel

Penn and Rosie fell in love almost instantaneously. Penn was a writer forever working on his "damned novel," while Rosie worked as an emergency room doctor forever on the night shift. When they decided to have children, especially as their family grew to four boys, they adopted a tandem approach to parenting—"It was just that there was way more to do than two could manage, but by their both filling every spare moment, some of what needed to got done."

One final try for a girl landed them Claude. Claude was precocious—he crawled, walked, and talked earlier than his brothers, but he also was tremendously creative. He liked to write, draw, play music, even bake. He was warm, friendly, and truly a special child. But as Claude approached his fifth birthday, he became obsessed with dresses. What he wanted more than anything was to be a princess, and be able to wear a dress to school.

Rosie and Penn aren't sure what to do. Do they nurture their youngest son's wish, stares and cruel comments and jibes at their parenting be damned, or do they explain to Claude that boys don't wear dresses, and he is a boy? For a while Claude settles for dressing as a boy for school and changing into girl clothes when he returns home, but that really doesn't make him happy. He wants to be a girl.

"How did you teach your small human that it's what's inside that counts when the truth was everyone was pretty preoccupied with what you put on over the outside too?"

As Claude grows, and becomes Poppy, they encourage her to be true to her feelings and who she is. But is that the right parenting choice for a child so young in age? What are the next steps in this journey, not only for Poppy and her parents, but her brothers as well? At some point the burden of keeping Poppy's secret becomes too much to bear for everyone, and then everyone needs to figure out where to go from there.

What choice is the right one? How will Penn and Rosie know if they're acting in their child's best interests, or the best interests of all of their children? How do they protect their child from what they know the world always seems to have in store for people who are different?

Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is is a truly wonderful book. She draws you into the Walsh-Adams family so fully, that you really see how things affect each of them. The book isn't preachy or heavy-handed (although those who believe transgender people to be less than human, and that no matter what you always must remain the gender you're born into will probably not agree), but it also doesn't pretend the whole situation is perfect, for anyone. She emphasizes that it's just as easy to make mistakes by not doing or saying things as it is by doing or saying them.

Frankel is a tremendously talented writer who imbues her books with beautiful emotion. Her previous book, Goodbye for Now (see my review), had me in tears (and I read it a few years before my father died). Frankel even brings emotion to her author's note. But this small exchange in the book moved me the most:

"Tears crawled out of Claude's eyes and nose, and besides he was only five, but he tried to comfort his parents anyway. 'I just feel a little bit sad. Sad isn't bleeding. Sad is okay.'"

Maybe sometimes things happened a little too easily, but I still loved this book. Read it.

Book Review: "Small Admissions" by Amy Poeppel

Sometimes after I've read a few fairly heavy or angsty books, I need to metaphorically cleanse my literary palate by reading something a little lighter. It doesn't necessarily have to be a humor book or utter fluff, but every now and then I like to seek out books that are lighter in tone, more straight-forward, something I can enjoy without having to tax my brain or my psyche too hard.

After the last few books I've read, I turned to Amy Poeppel's Small Admissions as my literary intermezzo of sorts. It was just what I was hoping for—an engaging story with characters I could root for (as well as some I could root against). It even made me laugh more than a few times, which was a pleasant surprise.

The daughter of two college professors, Kate Pearson has always been almost myopically focused on academics, much to the frustration of her friends and her older sister Angela. But when her post-graduate work in a prestigious anthropology program with a noted professor turns disastrous, she makes a characteristically un-Kate decision and plans to move to Paris with her trés handsome boyfriend Richard. Only she doesn't quite get out of the Paris airport, and then she's back in the U.S., nearly catatonic in her depression, never getting out of her pajamas, drinking far too much, and refusing to do anything to fix her situation.

After nearly a year of moping and mourning, Angela feels compelled to do something to save Kate from herself. Angela's chance meeting with the overworked director of admissions for a tony prep school in New York lands Kate an interview. And despite one of the most disastrous job interviews on record, where she dresses inappropriately and says even less appropriate things, Kate is shockingly hired as the assistant director of admissions for the famed Hudson Day School.

"...she didn't like children particularly. Didn't know any other than her niece, didn't want to. Didn't know anything about schools in New York City, either, obviously. Or schools anywhere. Or the admissions process. Or administrative anything. She would be expected to answer people's questions, and she wouldn't have the answers because—to get right down to it—she didn't know anything."

After her initial fear that her boss will discover he accidentally hired the wrong girl, or that she'll screw everything up, abates, Kate starts to settle into her job. Before long she's interviewing prospective students—smart, driven children programmed by their parents; clueless children wondering why they're even there other than because their parents are making them; and the rare child who actually deserves to go to Hudson. Kate is far from a traditional interviewer, and as crazy as her interviews with the kids are, some of the parents are even crazier! (While a subplot featuring two feuding parents seems tired, there's a terrifically funny payoff.)

Meanwhile, as Kate is getting fully immersed in the whole admissions process, Angela constantly worries that Kate will suddenly backslide and tries to take control of her life prematurely, and Kate's two best friends from college are dealing with their own secrets, while one of them, Chloe, tries to find Kate another boyfriend, mostly out of guilt, since Richard is her cousin. It's all fodder for more chaos than any one person can handle, but Kate surprises them all by taking it in stride. Mostly.

Was this book fairly predictable? Absolutely, but that didn't lessen its appeal for me. I would have enjoyed the book more without the tired (and annoying) subplot about Kate's jealous friend, because Kate and her work in admissions made for a pretty enjoyable book on its own. I worried the book would lose its way diving into her romantic life, but fortunately Poeppel didn't hamper the book with turning the plot into total chick-lit. I thought Poeppel has a great ear for dialogue and a knack for crazily outlandish conversations that you can absolutely see someone getting nervous and saying.

Small Admissions was fun, lighthearted, and it didn't take itself too seriously. It was exactly the type of book I was looking for, and if you want something to read that you'll enjoy without getting agitated or depressed, or having to really decipher the plot, definitely pick this up.

Book Review: "The Babylon Line" by Richard Greenberg

Tony Award winner Richard Greenberg's new play, The Babylon Line is an intriguing, thought-provoking, and surprisingly emotional look at the lives of a group of suburban Long Island residents at the end of the 1960s, as they come together to participate in a writing class through an adult education program. Some of these people know each other, some merely know of each other, and not all of them intended to participate in a writing class—some were closed out of the classes they actually wanted to attend.

The teacher, Aaron, is a writer who once showed some promise but never delivered, despite his attempts to write every day. His failure causes him to take a job that forces him to commute from his New York City home to Levittown and teach a group of adults, the majority of whom have never written (and never had any desire to do so). These are people who would rather gossip and complain than put pen to paper, but little by little, some start to open up to the creative process, and their writing becomes more personal and therapeutic, and raise the hackles of their fellow students.

Aaron's most talented student, Joan, is a troubled housewife disliked by the other women in the class. She and Aaron, both in failing marriages, are drawn to one another through their love of reading and their desire to write, and Joan begins looking to Aaron as a life raft from the chaos of her life. But fear and ennui are powerful anchors.

The Babylon Line looks at the class over the course of a semester, and then follows each of the characters after the class is over to narrate what became of them. Greenberg has an ear for dialogue, and particularly captured the nuances of bored, angry, and self-righteous suburban housewives. Some of the characters are more well-developed than others, but they're all pretty fascinating, and you wonder what revelations will come from the students' stories.

Other than the new Harry Potter, it's been a long while since I've read a play. It required a little bit of an adjustment for me, since you must glean most of the plot from dialogue rather than description and imagery. I felt as if the plot took some time to build up steam, but once it did, it was amusing and thought-provoking, and the recaps of what happened to each character brought the sap out in me. And of course, like any good novel, there were times I wanted to shake the characters for their inaction, or for not saying what they were thinking.

I loved Greenberg's play Take Me Out, and The Babylon Line once again proves his talent. It would be interesting to see this performed some day, to see how everything takes shape on the stage. All in all, definitely a worthwhile read.

First to Read and Penguin provided me an advance copy of the play in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!