My Mom Is Trying to Ruin My Life

Starred review from December 1, 2008
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 (“ 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.

May 1, 2009
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"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2009
Grades 1-3 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 facein 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 girls perspective, Goodes 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, thats all a part of being loved.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)