Book Reviews—Class Mom & You’ve Been Volunteered by Laurie Gelman

If you want to laugh out loud, here are two books for you!  Laurie Gelman’s Class Mom and the follow-up novel, You’ve Been Volunteered are absolutely hysterical.  My big question is about author, Laurie Gelman.  Is she this funny in real life, because if she is, I want to be her BFF!  

In Class Mom, Ms. Gelman introduces the main character, Jen Dixon.  Jen’s son, Max, is entering Kindergarten and she is recruited to be the class mom for the year.  This is not Jen’s first time around the block being a class mom.  She has two college-aged daughters, and she was class mom for them years ago.  When Jen’s first e-mail goes out to the Kindergarten parents, it pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the school year!  Her e-mails are hilarious!! Having been a teacher for years, I can honestly say I never had a “class mom” e-mail go out quite like Jen Dixon’s.  Jen Dixon is always on the go with her kids, her friends, and her terrific husband.  She is the heart of the book, and will win you over as a reader.

Next, I read the sequel You’ve Been Volunteered.  Max is now in the 3rd grade, and Jen is going to be class mom again, after taking a few years off from the job.  I was intrigued by the cover of this book because it shows a patrol belt and a stop sign.  Having sponsored Safety Patrols and Car Duty for countless years at the various elementary schools when I taught, I was interested in finding out just what direction Ms. Gelman was going to go with this novel.  Again, she writes a hysterical book about being “volunteered” to set up parent volunteers to supervise the patrols while on duty.  What? Why didn’t I think of that?  I actually could have been a consultant for Ms. Gelman on this book because I could have added some hilarious patrol stories myself (all the names would be changed!).

Again, Jen Dixon is still the same lovable character,  and she continues to write her crazy e-mails to the parents.

I really want a third novel!!! I hope Ms. Gelman is working on one.  I need more Jen Dixon in my life!

I rated both books ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5.