THE BEST MOM

In this rhyming book from Australia, a querulous kid narrates the exceptional qualities of all of her friends’ mothers—and the irritating qualities of her own.

The story begins with the narrator’s intention to “trade” her mother in for a better option. Katie’s two moms, for example, are expert seamstresses, whereas the protagonist’s mom’s costume-making skills are less than impressive. Scout’s mom is a roller-skating whiz, but the narrator’s mother is hopeless on wheels. Eve’s mom is an impeccably dressed fairy (readers of a certain age might call her a hippie), whereas the protagonist’s mother constantly wears her clothing inside out and is always in too much of a hurry to be graceful. And while Will’s mother is a gifted chef, the narrator’s mother is unable even to cook a simple pot of pasta. Throughout, the book wobbles between humor and outright cruelty, but its greatest weakness is its lack of narrative arc. After pages spent detailing her mother’s flaws, the narrator suddenly reverses her stance, declaring her mother to be her favorite: It is the first positive thing she’s said about her mother in the whole book. This startling about-face renders the ending difficult to believe, robbing the book of the optimism that could have characterized its final pages. The narrator’s mom’s skin is light brown; her daughter’s is paler.

Falls short in its attempt to be endearing.