My Mom Is Trying to Ruin My Life - Hardcover

Feiffer, Kate

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416941002 ISBN 13: 9781416941002

Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, 2009

Synopsis

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?

About this title

About the Author

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 is the illustrator of dozens of beloved and critically acclaimed picture books, including several written by Cynthia Rylant: Alligator Boy; When I Was Young in the Mountains, a Caldecott Honor Book; and most recently, Baby Face: A Book of Love for Baby. She is also the illustrator of President Pennybaker and My Mom is Trying to Ruin My Life, both by Kate Feiffer. She lives and works in Watchung, New Jersey, with her husband, David, and their two dogs, Jack and Daisy. 

From Booklist

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. Grades 1-3. --Courtney Jones

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1416941002
• ISBN 13: 9781416941002
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Goode Diane