Very funny and great characters! This book made me excited to read more of the Class Mom series!

Smells like Tween Spirit is the first book I have read by Laurie Gelman. This book follows a very busy mom who has a son in Jr. High School who joins the wrestling team - something she knows little about - and she becomes a "Mat Mom". She also has adult children and grandchildren who keep her hopping as well. I was especially interested in the parts of the story where she is dealing with her father who has dementia because I also have a parent with dementia. This story was often funny, but there were serious moments that helped keep the book realistic. I feel like I do need to go back and check out the previous books in this series in order to understand the characters a little better, but I don't think it is absolutely necessary for everyone to do this. Overall, I enjoyed it and I think it would be fun to recommend to other wrestling moms for their opinions. I am not a wrestling mom, but I have observed wrestling moms and they are in a league of their own. 4 stars.

My sincere thanks to Henry Holt and Co. and Library Thing Early Reviewers for giving me the opportunity to read this book and give my opinion of it. ( )

The class mom series is so fun - and Jen Dixon is exactly the kind of mom I aspire to be. Snarky, sassy, fun, over the top, and good company. Now that her son is out of elementary school her duties as a class mom are behind her. But when her son Max joins the wrestling team she finds herself roped into joining the mat moms. Instead of free time she finds herself juggling wrestling practice, babysitting her granddaughter and father (who has dementia), trying to referee her two oldest girls who plan on opening a business together, and getting to know the riders in her cycle class better. There is hardly any time left for her (or her love life). Laugh out loud funny - I hope there are more Jen Dixon stories ahead! ( )

This book took me a couple of chapters to get into, but once I was in, it was a laugh a minute. I liked it so much, I checked out the three previous books in the series to keep the fun going. Laurie Gelman has written a book that I can relate to in so many ways. She has all the witty comebacks that I (as a teacher) only wish I could say out loud, but in this one she also tackled the sobering reality of caring for aging parents. For any mom who needs to relax and have a laugh, this is a great light-hearted read that will make you smile. ( )

I did it! I’m all caught up on the Class Mom series. And Max has caught up to my daughter – they are both in seventh grade now. Unlike my daughter, Max is on the wrestling team so Jen has a whole new group of moms to deal with – the Mat Moms. They all seem to take wrestling way more seriously than she does. Most of the moms are welcoming but one is downright mean.

In the meantime, Jen’s aging parents are becoming more of a handful and her adult daughters are trying to start a business. And Jen is still teaching spinning classes. One of her students is getting a little demanding. So as usual, Jen’s plate is full but it’s with all new problems so it feels fresh. There is a little bit of sadness in this book and also a point at which I wanted to shake Jen because she was being very unreasonable. I wasn’t expecting a Class Mom book to get me worked up!

Smells Like Tween Spirit was very satisfying but I hope that Laurie will write another one – I’d love to see what Jen gets up to when Max is in high school. ( )