Synopsis: Vanessa Rothrock is a 12-year-old spelling champ with frizzy hair and gigantic feet. She has not yet been visited by the Boob Fairy, and her mother, currently the governor of Florida, has decided to run for president. Vanessa is pretty sure that this will only make her life more difficult.
Review: While the plot of As If Being 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running for President lacks originality, I found the book to be a pretty fun read. This is Donna Gephart's first book, but she seems to have remembered well what it is like to be a 12-year-old girl. Vanessa Rothrock is a likeable character. She's a frizzy haired, flat-chested klutz who loves her Mom and misses her Dad. She desperately wants to win the Regional Spelling Bee so that she and her Mom can both make it to D.C. (She to the National Bee, and her Mom to the White House). She wishes that Reginald Trumball were her secret admirer, and that she could have a little privacy in life. Being followed around by a bodyguard all the time is not as glamorous as it sounds. But more than anything, she just wants her Mom to be safe and and have more time for her.
The relationship between Vanessa and her mother is probably the nicest aspect of this novel. Vanessa is not the perfect daughter. She's a bit whiny, and not terribly understanding how busy her Mom is running for president. She even causes her mother some major campaign problems when she sends off some poor responses to a teen magazine's questionnaire. Of course, her Mom is not perfect either. She misses Vanessa's County Bee, fails to make it to the emergency room when Vanessa breaks her wrist, and laughs when Vanessa shows her a threatening letter saying that Rothrock better not run for president, but there are wonderful moments too. I love how they always try to watch Gilmore Girls together. And when they can't, her Mom remembers to tape it so they can watch it together later. Also, her Mom does make it to the Regional Bee and is there to comfort Vanessa when she loses. They have a very realistic, loving relationship.
Now the aesthetic downsides to this novel. The title is too long, and the cover is awful. The title should have just been My Mother is Running for President. As for the cover, it's institutional and looks like it's from the '70s. I think the hat with the Mom for President button on the band would have been better. Or red, white and blue balloons with Mom for President on them would have worked too. Finally, given that this plot is not all that original (we've all seen it on West Wing) and that this novel was published with the current presidential campaign in mind, it might have been wise to make this novel a paperback original to lower the price point.
If you like this novel, you might also enjoy the Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot.
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