MY MOTHER IS A FRENCH FRY AND FURTHER PROOF OF MY FUZZED-UP LIFE

While most teenagers are embarrassed by their parents, 15-year-old Eli has reason: Her extroverted mother works as the French-fry mascot at a local burger joint, and her idea of a mother-daughter outing is to spend the day in burkas to better understand fundamentalist Muslim women. Eli’s relationships with best friend Grace (who has two dads) and boyfriend JG (who has no mother and an alcoholic father) provide perspective, but she still struggles with overwhelming feelings of anger and embarrassment. The situation escalates when Eli discovers mom is having a baby at 42. With a counselor’s help, Eli realizes her anger is rooted in feeling responsible for the infant death of a previous sibling, leading her finally to love and accept her unusual mother. Despite the author’s annoying use of “zz” to mask Eli’s frequent cursing (“shizz,” “fuzz,” etc.), teens will appreciate Sydor’s manic, humorous tone. While Sue Limb and Susan Juby do it better, this stands as a solid chick-lit offering. For maximum laughs, pair with David Lubar’s Sleeping Freshman Never Lie (2005). (Fiction. YA)