My Mom is Trying to Ruin My Life by Kate Feiffer and illustrated by Diane Goode

My Mom is Trying to Ruin My Life by Kate Feiffer and illustrated by Diane Goode was a story that all children can relate to easily. Although this book is geared to young girls, boys could also relate to it as well.

The little girl in the book is convinced her mother is trying to ruin her life. The book starts off with her saying many positive things about her mother: she's nice, makes people smile, helps people, and many more. The little girl does not understand how her nice mom would try to ruin her life, and she states five ways that she does. These reasons include: kissing her in front of her friends, talking loudly, stopping by her school, not letting her eat junk food, and worries too much. All of these things seem pretty typical of most mothers, right? Right. Well, this little girl thinks of a plan to help escape her mother, but her plan leads to her mother being thrown in jail because the police realize she is trying to ruin her life! Her dad is also trying to ruin her life too, so they would throw him in jail! He makes her do her homework, turn off her light at 8PM, and clean her room. CRAZY! Typical parents. Well, once she imagines her life without her parents, she realizes that she would miss them and can't imagine what she would do without them. The story ends with her realizing this and telling her parents she loves them. Happy ending. I really liked this because I can remember being so embarrassed at times of my parents, but I would not trade them for anything. I think a lot of kids think this way at least at some point. I loved this story line for these simple things. Also, when she imagines how she would get away from her parents, it is pretty comical. In fact, she even needs her mom's help!

The illustrations in this book are bright and simple. There are multiple scenes on certain pages, and that adds visual interest. The way she lists the ways her parents ruin her life are made to stand out. This is done by bolding and enlarging "Way #__" above the text stating the reason. Also, certain text features are enlarged to emphasize her emotions.

Once again, I was happy with what I had pulled from the new section of the curriculum lab. I feel as though this was a good resource because it shows me what type of books are created today with children in mind. Although I love the classics, I feel much more open to pursuing new books in the future for my blogs.