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By Colleen Sydor ISBN: 9781554531844format: Paperback pages: 256 publisher: Kids Can Press pub. date: 2008-08-01 |
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Reviewed by Dana Coates
Eli Smyth, the main character in Colleen Sydor’s young adult novel My Mother is a French Fry and Further Proof of my Fuzzed-up Life is your typical teenager at the age of fifteen. Eli adds “z’s” to certain words because she is not allowed to swear, hence the term: “fuzzed-up life.” Eli is rebellious when it comes to listening to her mother, who is a French fry… at work. Besides the embarrassment of seeing her mother dressed in a five-foot foam rubber French fry costume every day, Eli has to also put up with the rather frank way that her mother, Dee, discusses the birds and the bees with her daughter.
There are a lot of realistic topics and issues that modern teens face in this must read novel. The plot is well planned out and researched. A great read – really, no shiz!
Winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award for Young People (Older Category)
It makes Eli cringe when her mother comes home proudly dressed in a foam rubber French fry suit after her first day as a mascot for Burgers 'n' Fries. Families come in many forms in the animal kingdom, Eli's teacher had informed her. Sure, but...French fries? How can her mother be so unembarrassable? When 15-year-old Eli Smyth isn't fuming over her mother's goofy jobs and total lack of inhibition, she's envious of Grace. Eli's best friend has two dads, both tres cool, and neither dresses up as fast food for a living.Maybe JG can understand. He's the boy in her class who shares her appreciation of rock band Decapitated Heads and also happens to have problems with his dad. Nobody's parents, though, are as wacko as Eli's mom. Everything she says and does drives Eli crazy. The too-frank sex-talks, the penchant for clothing that resembles flour sacks; the list goes on... It seems her mom can't do much more to aggravate Eli - and then gets pregnant. To Eli, there's nothing more disgusting than pregnancy. Now that her mother's puking her guts out most mornings and beginning to look like Jabba the Hut, what if she needs Eli's love and understanding? Will Eli be there for her?
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