Reviewed by Jeremey for TeensReadToo.com

Jeremy's mother has often been disappearing for hours at a time, but on a Sunday afternoon all truths are told.

His mother has found a new love - the father of Jeremy's enemy at school and on the baseball field. A fight occurs between Jeremy's mother and father. His mother leaves, and she takes everything with her - including Jeremy's Book of Birds that he had been illustrating himself.

No one can believe that she left. Especially Jeremy. He feels abandoned and hurt. Through his father's sadness and his own mixed-up feelings, Jeremy recreates the Book of Birds and finds solace within himself through nature.

James Prosek's THE DAY MY MOTHER LEFT is very moving. Coming from a divorced family myself, it's easy to relate and understand Jeremy's feelings. Mr. Prosek uses outstanding details within the story and has also created lovely drawings. It is a great book and experience from beginning to end ( )

To be honest, I probably wouldn't have finished this title in book version, but the audio version was pleasant for commuting without demanding a lot of concentration.

The story suffers from the very premise that drives the story: Nine-year-old Jeremy's mother decides to leave her family to live with the father of the boy's classroom enemy, Eric. From the moment she walks out of the house, the mother doesn't contact the boy again for several years. Yet, the boy's reaction is, under the circumstances, fairly calm. He goes on with his life. He goes to school. He keeps drawing birds. He doesn't try to contact his mother even though she lives nearby. The father begins dating again and a woman named Susan moves in with them. Jeremy takes art classes and falls in love with another student, Katie. He visits his uncle and family. The boy's reaction to the entire situation doesn't ring totally true. His story is like a crime scene where the furniture has been straightened and the fingerprints wiped away. However, the author has created a likable character that most adults will warm to; however, I'm not sure any adolescents will find Jeremy credible. ( )

A very average book. It was entertaining enough to keep my attention but not special enough for me to really remember anything very specific about it. I felt like some of the time Jeremy's obscured view of what was going on obscured my enjoyment of the book. ( )