Recensori in anteprimaLaurie Gelman

From the author of Class Mom and You've Been Volunteered comes Laurie Gelman's next laugh-out-loud novel Smells Like Tween Spirit.

As a new Mat Mom of the Pioneer Middle School (PMS) Wrestling team, Jen Dixon finds herself thrown in the middle of the "guerrilla war against so-called perfect mothers," armed only with her cutting wit and acerbic sense of humor. (New York Times Book Review)

Handling a whole host of new challenges, from the dreaded seventh-grade science fair to a school fundraiser (again!), Jen faces the somewhat-terrifying new social dynamics of the wrestling moms with her trademark combination of reluctance and exceptional delivery.

Between school events and teaching spin classes, Jen finds herself fully immersed in sports mom competitiveness. These parents seem perfectly unassuming, until their kids start to wrestle, and they become raging pubescent monsters. Learning to navigate this new world while fielding calls from the principal because of Max's newfound misogynistic behavior, Jen steels herself for the indignities of middle-school life--with her loyal spin class attendees and her bossy four-year-old granddaughter giving her the strength she needs to press on.

Mix in a Parent Night, New Year's Party, and Valentine's Day Dance, and Jen Dixon certainly has her hands, and her calendar, full. And through it all, Jen continues to charm with her riotously funny quips and memorable one-liners.

From the author of Class Mom and You've Been Volunteered comes Yoga Pant Nation--a novel about one mom's challenges through parenting and life, keeping her on her toes and perpetually in yoga pants. Jen Dixon of Overland Park, Kansas—fearless mother of a fifth-grade boy and two thirty-something daughters—is used to juggling a lot, from her mission to become a spin instructor, to stepping in as the most acerbic class mom ever (again), to taking care of her two-year-old granddaughter. But when the PTA president throws her a mandate to raise $10,000 for the fifth-grade class, even unflappable Jen is going to need more than her regular spin class to get her through this final year at William Taft Elementary School. In the midst of new complications—organizing the class overnight to Topeka, an unexpected spin class fan in the form of her husband’s crazy ex-wife, and trying to navigate her parents’ sudden descent into apparent delusions—Jen hardly has the patience to listen to yet another half-baked idea (come on, ladies, another wrapping paper sale?) from WeFUKCT (We Fundraise Until Kingdom Come Team), her fundraising committee. But if anyone can get elementary parents to pull off the impossible, it’s Jen Dixon. With her always irreverent and laugh-out-loud humor—boldly holding forth on those things you’re thinking, but would never dare say out loud—Laurie Gelman shines a light on the indignities and hilarities of modern parenting.

Laurie Gelman’s sharp debut novel about a year in the life of a kindergarten class mom-- a brilliant send-up of the petty and surprisingly cutthroat terrain of parent politics Jen Dixon is not your typical Kansas City kindergarten class mom—or mom in general. Jen already has two college-age daughters by two different (she thinks) musicians, and it’s her second time around the class mom block with five-year-old Max—this time with a husband and father on her side. Her best friend, who is also the PTA President, sees her as the “wisest” candidate for the job (or oldest), but not all of the other parents agree. From recording parents’ response times to her emails to suggesting someone bring “special” brownies for curriculum night, not all of Jen’s methods win approval from the other moms. Throw in an old flame from her past, a hyper-sensitive “allergy mom,” a surprisingly sexy kindergarten teacher, and an impossible-to-please Real Housewife wannabe causing problems at every turn, and the job really becomes much more than she signed up for. Relatable, irreverent, and hilarious in the spirit of Maria Semple, this is a fresh, welcome voice in fiction—the kind of novel that moms clamor for, and a vicarious thrill-read for all mothers, who will be laughing as they are liberated by Gelman's acerbic truths.