You've Been Volunteered
A Class Mom Novel
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4.4 • 8 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In the eagerly anticipated follow-up to Laurie Gelman’s "irreverent and hilarious" (The New York Post) hit Class Mom, brash, lovable Jen Dixon is back with a new class and her work cut out for her
If you’ve ever been a room parent or school volunteer, Jen Dixon is your hero. She says what every class mom is really thinking, whether in her notoriously frank emails or standup-worthy interactions with the micromanaging PTA President and the gamut of difficult parents. Luckily, she has the charm and wit to get away with it—most of the time. Jen is sassier than ever but dealing with a whole new set of challenges, in the world of parental politics and at home.
She’s been roped into room-parenting yet again, for her son Max’s third grade class, but as her husband buries himself in work, her older daughters navigate adulthood, and Jen’s own aging parents start to need some parenting themselves, Jen gets pulled in more directions than any one mom, or superhero, can handle.
Refreshingly down-to-earth and brimming with warmth, Dixon’s next chapter will keep you turning the pages to find out what’s really going on under the veneer of polite parent interactions, and have you laughing along with her the whole way.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
With the sequel to her hilarious debut, Class Mom, Laurie Gelman once again proves she’s the freshest voice among the carrot-sticks-and-juice-box set. This time around, frazzled mom Jen Dixon is trying to navigate a year of wrangling third-grade parents. She’s got a decent handle on her classroom duties, but the other parts of being a middle-aged woman—dealing with her aging mother’s health problems, worrying about money—are causing heartburn. Gelman’s warm prose makes reading You’ve Been Volunteered feel like catching up with an interesting and really funny friend. For all her snark, Jen is a strong female role model worth investing time in. We’re already looking forward to the next school year.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wisecracking Jen Dixon is back in Gelman's enjoyable follow-up to Class Mom. Jen's son, Max, is now in third grade, and Jen has once again been roped into being class mom. Greeting fellow parents (and readers) with one of her notorious emails, Jen reminds everyone that it's "my way or the highway." Almost everyone is glad to have her back, but a snooty new mom to the school and a micromanaging PTA president threaten to force Jen to be more professional and not just skirt by on charm. Meanwhile, her husband has forced her to start cutting coupons to save money, and some new friends may be plotting against her. Jen is also strong-armed into managing the safety patrol program, which requires her to assign (and enforce) patrol time slots for parents of fifth graders. But when Jen's aging mother and father begin asking her for more help and take notice of her freewheeling approach to her duties as class mom, Jen begins to realize that she herself might be the cause of her problems, and wonders if she's the cool, witty, take-no-nonsense badass she'd like to think she is, or is she just selfish and cruel? Jen has an abrasive demeanor and an intractable stubbornness, but she displays heart and a crackling sense of humor throughout. This refreshing take on modern suburbia will appeal to fans of Lauren Weisberger.
