AT THE LIBRARY

“Class Mom” by Laurie Gelman (Macmillan $24.99)

In her debut novel, “Class Mom,” Laurie Gelman pokes fun at the phenomenon of room parents. Jen Dixon has reluctantly agreed to be class mom for her son’s kindergarten class. She has experience, after all, having volunteered for the job when her two college-aged daughters were in elementary school and, despite her reluctance, she plans to make this role exciting for everyone! The school year starts off, though, with a few quirks: the teacher, Miss Ward, is a bit eccentric and doesn’t seem to want to interact with Jen; Jen’s high school crush is dad to one of the other students and still makes her pulse race, regardless of her happy marriage; and the other parents seem to be a lot more cliquey than she remembers the last time she was class mom. Even worse is that Jen’s famously sarcastic emails fall flat with several parents and she may have insulted fellow mom, Asami Chang, who’s now making it her goal to have Jen ousted!

As the year progresses, Jen juggles the wishes of her family, Miss Ward and the fellow parents who are often as needy as their children. If Jen can manage to get through field trips, parent socials and a mud run without completely embarrassing herself, she may even solve the mystery of the ‘out of office’ email parent and befriend a rival.

Gelman’s debut novel’s satirical take on parenting will appeal to fans of “Confessions of a Domestic Failure” by Bunmi Laditan or “Today Will Be Different” by Maria Semple.