I'm Glad My Mom Died

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, 304 pages

Jennette McCurdy started her acting career at age 6, eventually becoming the star of Nickelodeon's iCarly and Sam & Cat. But she never really wanted to act — her mom wanted that for herself, and when she couldn't do it, she forced her young daughter into it instead. In I'm Glad My Mom Died, McCurdy lays bare her experiences as a child actor, including all of the emotional manipulation, disordered eating, and codependency that her mom subjected her to over the years. Yet she also clearly illustrates how complicated that relationship was, as she was also protective of her mother's reputation and the love she had for her. 

This is by no means a cheerful story, but the fact that McCurdy was able to write it (and, since I listened to the audiobook, read it aloud) with such candor is a hopeful sign for her future. An excellent book, though not an easy one to read.

Where the Drowned Girls Go

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire, 150 pages

While Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children is a welcoming environment for kids who went through a portal to another world and then returned to our mundane world, something about the place just doesn't seem to be working for Cora, who is haunted by the watery world where she became a mermaid. For that reason, she decides to transfer to the much more rigid and harsh Whitethorn Institute, which aims to disabuse children of the notion that other worlds even exist. However, much like the beds in Goldilocks, Eleanor West's was too soft, Whitethorn is too hard, and Cora is stuck trying to escape Whitethorn and find something that works for her.

I love this series of novellas, and McGuire's limitless imagination for other worlds. I also particularly enjoy the inclusiveness of this series, which features LGBTQ kids and kids with different abilities and body types, and treats them all honestly and with care. These books are well worth a read for fans of portal fantasy.

Heartstopper vol. 4

Heartstopper vol. 4 by Alice Oseman, 350 pages

*Spoilers ahead because this is the fourth of a planned five-book series. Just go read the first three, and then this one, so I can talk to you about it.*

In this fourth volume of Heartstopper, Nick and Charlie are together, out to their classmates and friends, and contemplating the big "I love you" declarations. But not everything is sparkly in their world. Charlie's dealing with anorexia (even if Charlie isn't aware of it yet) and Nick still hasn't told his dad that he's bisexual, and both of them are so worried about the other's issues that they're having trouble noticing their own problems.

Throughout this series, Oseman has done an excellent job of navigating tough topics, from figuring out sexual identity to transphobia to bullying and emotional abuse. With this volume, that turns to eating disorders, and the limitations of what teens can do to help their friends. I absolutely love the way that this is handled in a realistic manner (yes, it takes a long time, and no, love does not fix everything), and I will be shoving this series into the hands of as many people as I can.

I'm Glad My Mom Died

 I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, 320 pages.

Jennette McCurdy, most famous for her acting in Nickelodeon show iCarly and Sam and Cat, really wishes that wasn't the case. This memoir is told in two parts. The first is her unhappy childhood and adolescence in child acting under her extremely controlling and emotionally abusive mother. The second part is her struggles with alcoholism, bulimia, and various other traumas after her mom died.

This book is, unsurprisingly, pretty heavy. More surprisingly, it's often also quite funny. McCurdy has a masterful grasp on perspective, and you can see the perspective voice morph as she gets older, which makes many of the childhood scenes even more disturbing. It also ends in recovery, which is the kind of ending I really appreciate in these types of stories. I'm not often a memoir reader, but this one was definitely worth the time.