Book review: Family Game Night and Other Catastrophes, by Mary E. Lambert

  

"Annabelle has a five mile rule: She must keep her friends from coming within five miles of her home. That's because Annabelle's mom is a hoarder. Their house is full of stuff: canned goods, broken toys, old newspapers... It's everywhere except for Annabelle's spotless room.

Annabelle can't let anyone find out what her house is like. They'll realize that her mom is crazy. They'll make fun of her. Or feel sorry for her. Or try to help.

But when the newspaper piles come crashing down on her sister's head one morning, it kicks off an epic fight between her parents that ends up with her dad taking off -- and her fix-it-all grandmother stepping in.

As Annabelle realizes how bad things have gotten for her little sister, while trying to navigate her first crush, not to mention stay sane herself, she's forced to come to terms with the fact that maybe she can't keep all her secrets to herself. Maybe she can't just throw her mom's things out... maybe she has to let some people in."

Praise for Family Game Night and Other Catastrophes:

"Annabelle's smart, perceptive voice is fresh and realistic. Well-drawn and sympathetic characters (even, eventually, Annabelle's parents) drive this immersive tale. This debut story is a standout."
-- Kirkus Reviews

"This poignant tale with an authentic and memorable narrator will resonate with many young readers–whether they have personal experiences with hoarding or not. Move this to the top of the realistic fiction purchase list in libraries serving middle graders."
-- School Library Journal

"Gutsy and affecting. A believably hopeful ending reinforces the story's call to face problems rather than hide or run from them, and to ask for help from others–especially family."
-- Publishers Weekly

"Family Game Night and Other Catastrophes is a heartfelt exploration of family and friendship, adolescence and sisterhood; it is a touching and real portrait of the beautiful mess that love and life can sometimes be."
-- Dan Gemeinhart, author of The Honest Truth


Family Game Night and Other Catastrophes (published in March 2017) is Mary E. Lambert's debut novel. On her website, Mary, a VCFA alumna, writes that she always wanted to write about the complexity of the sister relationship, and that after some suggestions from her graduate program advisors, the idea for this book was born. Mary succeeded in portraying the emotional roller-coaster of not only the relationship between sisters, but also between mothers and daughters. I was fascinated by the component that Annabelle's mom has an out-of-control compulsion to hoard, but more that that, I was profoundly touched by the love that binds this family even though they're facing the worst crisis of their lives. Unlike many other books featuring broken parents, the love that the family members have for each other shines through the page, even when Annabelle's mean to her sister or even her mom. I loved that saving her family is the main desire line of the story, and that Annabelle isn't a traditional heroine in the sense that she solves the family problem. How could she? She's just a kid. But her actions, small when compared to other stories featuring saving the world, send the stone rolling so that her mom can finally get the help she needs. Annabelle's family is her whole world, so true to middle-grade kids. The raw emotion of Annabelle trying to function socially with her friends and the new boy she likes while at the same time she holds this huge secret in her heart make the stakes so high and important.

Annabelles' voice is true middle-grade, full of optimism, but at the same time, her awareness of the family situation makes her sound much more mature than her friends. Her relationship with her friends is another element that I admire of this story. Friendships are so crucial at the age that I was pleasantly surprised that the author gave Annabelle an amazing support group, while at the same time portraying the dynamic among the friends in a realistic and honest way.  

I admire how the author balanced the narrative as she portrayed the relationship between the sisters, the relationship between Annabelle and her mother, and in turns, the relationship of her mother with her own mother and sister, who although never appears on the page, is a looming presence on the story.

The impact of the climax of the story took me by surprise, in the best way possible. Although the story deals with heavy issues (dysfunctional family, sister with anxiety, etc), the narrative is never dark, but there is a sense of contained emotions all the way to the end, when the author executes the conclusion magisterially.

5 stars to Annabelle's story. I can't wait for Lambert's next book. She's an author to watch.  

How Real is Realistic Fiction?, by Marissa Burt

When I first entered the world of middle-grade books, THE BABYSITTER’S CLUB series was in its heyday, and I was part of the prime demographic.  Because I was not quite old enough to actually babysit, hanging out with whiny toddlers sounded glamorous whenever Claudia and Stacey were at the helm.

And the girls never seemed as uncertain or mixed up inside as I felt.  Oh, sure, they had their conflicts and moments of oops-why-did-I-like-that-jerk-anyway? revelations, but they faced it all with polish and confidence.  

As a young reader, the stories I devoured were educational, whether they were intended to be or not.  They taught me ways I could respond to certain situations.  Or, if I wanted to be like Stacey and Claudia, ways I ought to respond.  They also gave me an idea of a “normality” that might exist outside of my own experience.  

This unintentional education spills over into what I call the Disney-channel wistfulness, that moment when viewers feel as though their lives should be more like that easy 30-minute sitcom episode, the one where the girl knows exactly how to confront the bully or snag the attention of the cute boy.

well as entertaining.

I think Disney and a lot of contemporary middle-grade books aim for the awkwardness that comes with the transitional years between childhood and adulthood, but they often leave the protagonist with a maturity beyond their years.  

Maybe it was just my own personal brand of preadolescent challenges, but I never had a completely platonic male friend who I could just hang out with one-on-one, the way boys and girls in most middle-grade novels (mine included!) do with such ease. 

Instead, there were always odd undercurrents and insecurities and hormones and why-in-the-world-did-I-say-that? moments with no happy resolution.  I think of my first dance, when the boy I actually liked asked me to dance, and I was stopped cold.  “No thanks,” I said to him and the cluster of boys standing by him for moral support.  “Maybe next time.” 

In a book, the heroine would never flail with unpredictable insecurity.  She would know how to reasonably respond in a mature-beyond-her-years-yet-somehow-age-appropriate way to her crush.  

Or, even if she had blundered, there would actually be a next time, when all would work out well at the next dance.  

Of course, this is part of the reason we choose fiction.  None of us really wants to crack open a book and read what actually happens in someone’s everyday life, right?  But what does it do for young readers to have that false normal or Disney-wistfulness planted right there in their imaginations?

I struggle with this as an author – balancing the tension of perceived reality and fantasy-world.  I think I’m not alone.  L.M. Montgomery, one of our favorites around Project Mayhem, lamented that her heroines were, in my words, too pure, that she wasn’t allowed to have them deal with thoughts and feelings that girls, even in Montgomery’s time, really did.  As someone who lived and breathed Anne growing up, I wonder if it could have helped to know that Anne actually wasted a lot of hours mooning over Gilbert. 

 

What do you think?  Is it possible to create realistic relational dynamics in fiction or will they always be shaped by our wish-fulfillment and desires of how things ought to be?  Are there any middle-grade books that you think deal with realistic relational dynamics particularly well?

Oh, and, Nick, wherever you are, I really am sorry about that dance.