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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | FEIFFER | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Newberg Public Library | FAMILY FEIFFER | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Everyone has only nice things to say about my mom.
Everyone likes her.
She looks nice.
She bakes great cookies and makes me feel better when I have a bad day.
But would a really nice mom do embarrassing things like kiss me in public and tell loud jokes that no one thinks are funny? Well, my mom does those terrible things and worse - that's why I am sure that I have the most embarrassing mom in the world and that my mom is trying to ruin my life...
Or is she ?
Author Notes
Kate Feiffer is a writer, a filmmaker, and a mother. She is the author of the picture books No Go Sleep! ; President Pennybaker ; But I Wanted a Baby Brother! ; The Wild, Wild Inside ; Which Puppy? ; My Mom Is Trying to Ruin My Life ; and Double Pink ; and of the middle-grade novels Signed by Zelda and The Problem with the Puddles. She lives with her family on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Visit her at KateFeiffer.com.
Diane Goode has written seven and illustrated over sixty beloved and critically acclaimed picture books, including the New York Times bestsellers Founding Mothers and Ladies of Liberty by Cokie Roberts. She illustrated several books by Cynthia Rylant including When I Was Young in the Mountains , a Caldecott Honor Book. She is also the illustrator of President Pennybaker and My Mom is Trying to Ruin My Life , both by Kate Feiffer. She lives in Watchung, New Jersey, with her husband, David, and their dog, Briggs. You can read about her at DianeGoode.com.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-After stating that her mother "looks like a nice mom" who takes people where they need to go and makes boo-boos stop hurting, Emma goes on to list the ways her parents are trying to ruin her life. She imagines them both thrown in jail for their crimes of kissing her in front of her friends, worrying too much, and making her clean her room and do her homework. But thinking about a parent-free life only serves to remind her how much she really does need her mom and dad, and in the end she says, "I love you!" Done in bright pinks and greens, the expressive cartoon illustrations bring a lot of personality and humor to the plot, but frustrated kids and their struggling parents will find this saccharine story a bit too naive.-Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
What if Mom and Dad were finally jailed for their crimes against their school-age daughter's humanity (e.g., talking too loudly and enforcing a regular bedtime)? How perfect would that be? The sweetness of our narrator's vision fades, however, when she realizes there would be no one around to love her and take care of her. Feiffer and Goode (previously paired for President Pennybaker) give this old chestnut of a story line an urbane sheen. The author understands that children like to assume a voice of objective authority by referring to themselves in the third-person plural ("[My mom] makes people's boo-boos stop hurting"). And while it seems a bit anachronistic that Goode dresses Mom in a pink shirtwaist worthy of Father Knows Best, her watercolor vignettes are gems of wry intelligence and comic understatement. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
A girl explains how her parents are "trying to ruin" her life ("She kisses me in front of my friends," "He makes me do my homework"). Her revenge fantasy--Mom and Dad in jail--compels her to reevaluate her attitude. This amusing story, helped along by the cartoony watercolors' scope of emotionality, manages to be respectful of both parental authority and pre-tween angst. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Feiffer and Goode, the team behind President Pennybaker (2008), have created another fable about independence. With all the pretween angst she can muster, our heroine wonders, If my mom is such a nice mom, why is she trying to ruin my life? She talks too loud, brings shorts for her to change into at school, and kisses her face in public! She gets no relief from her father either, who wants her to do homework and go to bed on time. So the girl devises a plan to run away and have her parents thrown in jail. While the text is skewed to the little girl's perspective, Goode's trademark retro illustrations capture the good intentions of Mom and Dad, and the hurt and loss they feel when separated from their daughter. Young readers will enjoy the fantasy of freedom and want to read this without help from their own embarrassing parents. In the end, they will come to the conclusion that even though their parents might be trying to ruin their lives, that's all a part of being loved.--Jones, Courtney Copyright 2009 Booklist