Between Mom and Jo by Julie Peters
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Product Details
- ISBN-13: 9780316739061
- ISBN: 0316739065
Synopsis
Nick has a three-legged dog named Lucky, some pet fish, and two moms who think he's the greatest kid ever. And he happens to think he has the greatest Moms ever, but everything changes when his birth mom and her wife, Jo, start to have marital problems. Suddenly, Nick is in the middle, and instead of having two Moms to turn to for advice, he has no one.
Nick's emotional struggle to redefine his relationships with his parents will remind readers that a family's love can survive even the most difficult times.
Publishers Weekly
Nick, 14, tells his story in flashbacks, revealing what it was like growing up with his two moms-and watching their relationship fall apart. Peters's (Luna) novel is much more than a story about a gay family. While Nick and his mothers do deal with discrimination (his third-grade teacher does not hang up the family picture he drew, for example), they have all too normal troubles as well, such as Jo's alcoholism, Erin's breast cancer, and eventually Erin's budding relationship with another woman. The author draws the protagonists as full-blooded characters, and readers will likely find it easy to relate to them. Jo struggles to hold down a job, but rescues animals and ferociously protects Nick (after some fifth-graders tease the then-kindergartner about his family, she stands at the school fence for a week, "posturing like a tough guy"). Erin, meanwhile, resents being the responsible one, yet she still gets drafted into the family's watermelon seed-spitting contest. When Nick learns of their separation, his "heart rips. A black hole opens up." Readers may have trouble believing that Erin, Nick's biological mother, would prevent him from seeing Jo after they split up, but overall, they will touched by this story about the struggles of a realistically flawed family. Ages 12-up. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
Julie Anne Peters is the critically acclaimed author of Define "Normal," Keeping You a Secret, Far from Xanadu, and Luna, a National Book Award Finalist.
Customer Reviews
Reviewed by Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius" for TeensReadToo.comby TeensReadToo
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October 26, 2008:
BETWEEN MOM AND JO is the first book I've read by Julie Anne Peters, but it won't be my last. In fact, as soon as I finished this book, I went and read KEEPING YOU A SECRET and LUNA. And while we're on confessions, this is also the first book I've read dealing with GLBT (gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender) issues, but again, it won't be the last. This book grabbed at my emotions, affecting me with every word so deeply that I finished it in only a matter of hours--and have been thinking about it ever since.
Nicholas Nathaniel Thomas Tyler has always only known one type of family life. He's the only child of mom Erin--and mom Jo. His earliest memories revolve around one or the other of his mothers, but it's usually Jo who is prominent, making him forget about the need for stitches at age three or tangling with the homophobic teacher he had in third grade. His mothers, of course, have their ups and downs like all parents do. Mom Erin complains about mom Jo's drinking and her inability to hold down a steady job; mom Jo can't stand mom Erin's stony silences when she's angry. For Nick, having two mothers is just the way life is. He's heard all the "queers" and "faggots" through the years, he's wondered about the father that donated sperm for his conception, and he's been haunted over whether having two lesbians for parents will make him gay.
Most of all, though, Nick has experienced love from two women who only want him to be happy. He has a three-legged dog named Lucky 2, a ton of fish that he takes care of religiously, and there's even a feral cat named Savage thrown into the mix to keep things interesting. Nick's life is pretty normal--or as normal as it can ever be--until the year he turns fourteen, and Jo moves out.
After a marriage, a child, lost jobs, meetings at AA, college courses, and a relationship that they'd always promised would remain whole, his mothers break up. Nick is suddenly thrust into turmoil, and his whole world falls apart. He's left with mom Erin, his biological mother, even though what he wants most in the world is to be allowed to live with mom Jo. Erin won't hear of it, however, even though she's the one with Kerri, her new girlfriend. She's the real parent, and Jo let trust get in the way of legally adopting Nick, so there's no out.
As Nick descends deeper into depression, as Erin becomes fanatical about not allowing her son to even to talk to Jo on the telephone, as Kerri moves into their home, something has to give.
BETWEEN MOM AND JO is heartfelt, genuine, and painfully honest. For anyone who has ever watched the breakup of a family, or for those with gay or lesbian parents, this is the book for you. I promise it will stay with you for quite awhile.
Courtesy of Teens Read Tooby Anonymous
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April 19, 2006: BETWEEN MOM AND JO is the first book I've read by Julie Anne Peters, but it won't be my last. In fact, as soon as I finished this book, I went and read KEEPING YOU A SECRET and LUNA. And while we're on confessions, this is also the first book I've read dealing with GLBT (gay/lesbian/bisexual/ transgender) issues, but again, it won't be the last. This book grabbed at my emotions, affecting me with every word so deeply that I finished it in only a matter of hours--and have been thinking about it ever since. Nicholas Nathaniel Thomas Tyler has always only known one type of family life. He's the only child of mom Erin--and mom Jo. His earliest memories revolve around one or the other of his mothers, but it's usually Jo who is prominent, making him forget about the need for stitches at age three or tangling with the homophobic teacher he had in third grade. His mothers, of course, have their ups and downs like all parents do--mom Erin complains about mom Jo's drinking and her inability to hold down a steady job mom Jo can't stand mom Erin's stony silences when she's angry. For Nick, having two mothers is just the way life is--he's heard all the 'queers' and '[...]' through the years, he's wondered about the father that donated sperm for his conception, he's been haunted over whether having two lesbians for parents will make him gay. Most of all, though, Nick has experienced love from two women who only want him to be happy. He has a three-legged dog named Lucky 2, a ton of fish that he takes care of religiously, and there's even a feral cat named Savage thrown into the mix to keep things interesting. Nick's life is pretty normal--or as normal as it can ever be--until the year he turns fourteen, and Jo moves out. After a marriage, a child, lost jobs, meetings at AA, college courses, and a relationship that they'd always promised would remain whole, his mothers break up. Nick is suddenly thrust into turmoil, and his whole world falls apart. He's left with mom Erin, his biological mother, even though what he wants most in the world is to be allowed to live with mom Jo. Erin won't hear of it, however, even though she's the one with Kerri, her new girlfriend. She's the real parent, and Jo let trust get in the way of legally adopting Nick, so there's no out. As Nick descends deeper into depression, as Erin becomes fanatical about not allowing her son to even to talk to Jo on the telephone, as Kerri moves in, something has to give. BETWEEN MOM AND JO is heartfelt, genuine, and painfully honest. For anyone who has ever watched the breakup of a family, for those with gay or lesbian parents, this is the book for you. I promise it will stay with you for quite awhile.
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