MotherReader

How about that? They did have the White House Easter Egg Roll after all. About 200 gay and lesbian parents attended (among the other 16,000 families that came) wearing rainbow leis and bracelets and, presumably, raincoats. They learned, like the rest of the families there, that an egg roll involves pushing a wooden egg across the wet White House lawn to a finish line. Huh, who knew? They rocked on to Aly and AJ (my family met them in person, so there) and met the giant bunny stalking the premises. It’s all so normal. Oh, that’s the point.

And I must backpedal a bit on my review of the Raisin books. But first, a story.

I do this really cute thing. I don’t do it a lot, but it is special. When I am nervous I will ask questions I already know the answer to, or, even better, will question a decision that is already made. For instance, my husband and I will be on our way to a party where I don’t know anybody, and I will turn to my husband and say “Do you think we should just stay home tonight?” I know, adorable isn’t it? My husband has gotten used to this darling habit of mine and answers very calmly and logically how we decided to go and and it will be fun and we wouldn’t want to disappoint our friends. Then I have been known in the next ten minutes to ask the question again. And my husband, God bless him, will answer me as if it was the first time I spoke about this. The lesson learned here is that when we care, we’ll overlook someone’s quirks, bad habits, or mild insanity.

So, when a good author makes some annoying mistakes, I may have to forgive her. I went back to read The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriquez last night, and then finished the second book. And this author is good. The writing is funny and believable. The main character Raisin is just soooo middle school, worrying about her appearance, boys, friends, and her family. She gets into the worst situations, and we sympathize, because we’ve been there. The books are a little less edgy and definitely less whiny than the Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging series, but they are similiar. It’s more like Junie B. Jones as a teenager, mixed with the Angus books — but without the British terms.

I still think the “lesbionic” reference was unnecessary and annoying. But the author does have Raisin help her crush write a speech for the committment ceremony of his two dads, so maybe that cancels it out. I still think that Raisin should figure out that a blog is a public way to express your deepest secrets. But I think I am a Raisin fan now and can’t wait for her to blog again.