Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom [Hardcover]

Susin Nielsen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 2010 | Age Level: 11 and up | Grade Level: 6 and up

Violet's TV-director dad has traded a job in Vancouver for one in Los Angeles, their run-down house for a sleek ranch-style home complete with a pool, and, worst of all, Violet's mother for a trophy wife, a blonde actress named Jennica. Violet's younger sister reacts by bed-wetting, and her mother ping-pongs from one loser to another, searching for love. As for Violet, she gets angry in ways that are by turns infuriating, shocking, and hilarious.

When her mother takes up with the unfortunately named Dudley Wiener, Violet and her friend Phoebe decide that they need to take control. If Violet's mom can't pick a decent man herself, they will help her snag George Clooney.

In Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom, Susin Nielsen has created a truly original protagonist in Violet and a brilliant new novel that will delight readers into rooting for her, even when she's at her worst.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 5-8–Violet can't stand her father, her new stepmother's fake boobs, the whole middle-school boy-girl thing, or her mother dating a geeky punster named Dudley Wiener, so she solicits George Clooney as an alternative future stepdad. It's no spoiler to reveal that Mr. Clooney does not marry the angry 12-year-old Vancouver girl's mother, although he does appear to give her some sage advice. Actually, the Clooney gimmick is the one part of this otherwise rather down-to-earth daughter-of-divorce book that doesn't gel (although it sure will grab readers' attention). All of the characters and their complicated relationships are wonderfully realized. Violet's anger is palpable, and there's just enough humor–slapstick, gross-out, and just plain goofy–to temper the emotional bits. The girl's voice, which is often too jaded, confident, worldly, and wise for her years, softens just the right amount with love for her five-year-old sister. Whether or not you can believe the celebrity bits, this novel is a steady addition to most middle-school collections.Rhona Campbell, formerly at Washington, DC Public Library
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

Twelve-year-old Violet’s dad now lives with his new wife and toddler daughters in a fancy L.A. house, while she remains in her run-down Vancouver home with her younger sister Rosie and her alimony-refusing, serial-dating mom. But after Mom starts seeing loud-sweater-wearing punster Dudley Wiener, Violet decides to find Mom a new man—specifically, George Clooney. Neither her efforts to contact Clooney nor sabotage her mom’s relationship go as planned, though, even after she finds an opportunity to meet the movie star while visiting her TV-producer dad. Violet is a complex, appealing character whose intimate, lively first-person narrative, both droll and heartfelt, discusses classmate conflicts and crushes as well as her insecurities and her gradual acceptance of what she can and cannot control. Though she often faces challenges and situations with not-so-graceful aplomb, Violet’s growth and authentic range of emotions, from anger (including some cringeworthy acting up) to healing and trust, ring true in this very engaging read. Grades 5-8. --Shelle Rosenfeld

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Tundra Books (August 10, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887769772
• ISBN-13: 978-0887769771
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.8 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,043,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of fun. Kids sure grow up fast., February 21, 2011

By 

M. Knapp "Maggie Knapp" (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom (Hardcover)

From the lighthearted title, this reader expected Violet's story to have plenty of moments of humor, and the author does not disappoint. Violet's Hollywood dad left her mom for a starlet, and she and her younger sister now have two step-sisters, a less-glamourous lifestyle (in Canada), and Violet has a plot to get her mother out of the rut of dating weirdos, and on to something better. I'm glad to say that in the end, Violet realizes there is a benefit to substance over style, and George Clooney (as much as Violet ever gets to know him) turns out to be a great guy.

NOTE FOR PARENTS ON WHY 4 STARS: I guess I'm keeping my head in the sand about what tweens are up to, as the 12 year olds in this story are indulging in "retail therapy", Facebook pages, hearing about their parents' flirtations and affairs and inviting each other to school dances. I wish Violet had been 13 or 14, but that's just me. Violet plays a mean joke on her stepsisters that didn't come off as funny to me.

4.0 out of 5 stars My 12-year-old LOVED this book, and I liked it a lot, April 11, 2011

By 

Jennifer Donovan "5minutesforbooks" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom (Hardcover)

I thought this book was very clever and enjoyed it a lot, but my daughter really loved it.

12-year-old Violet is dealing with a lot in this book -- new stepsisters, her mom's new boyfriends (none of whom she likes), and just all the things that go along with middle school. When her mom starts dating Dudley Wiener (whose personality fits his name!), Violet decides to take things into her own hands, and write George Clooney a letter. This book is very funny, and in some ways Violet is a typical tween girl, but it's not really a middle grade novel. I would recommend it for 12 and up for some mature content, including some of Violet's actions that need some maturity to discern, as opposed to the 9 - 12 that is the middle grade category.

5.0 out of 5 stars Poignant & Witty, November 20, 2010

By 

Nicola Manning (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom (Hardcover)

Reason for Reading: I am fond of the publisher, the cover caught my attention and the summary sounded original. It didn't hurt that the word "George Clooney" was in the title either!

What an amazing little gem of a book! I absolutely giggled with delight as I read about Violet's dilemma and what lengths she goes to. Converse-wearing 12 yo Violet's parents have been divorced for two years. Her TV producer father left them for a trophy wife, who was expecting twins and off they moved to LA. Violet's mom took it hard and spent the first 6 mos. going through a change, pierced navel, drinking too much wine but she got out of her slump and took up the single life with a passion, always dating, looking for the new Mr. Right. Only problem is the men are all losers. Cheaters, married, kid haters, cheapskates, etc. and Violet knows her mom can do better. She's even been known to spy on the boyfriend with her best friend Phoebe, looking out for her mom's best interests. But when her mom starts to seriously date Dudley Wiener Violet knows it's time to intervene and since her mom actually met George Clooney years ago when she worked on-set doing hair touch ups and had a personalized photo of him, Violet plans a campaign to get Clooney to meet her mother again and perhaps she will be the one who will break his rule that he will never get married again.

The story deals with some serious issues but is light-hearted and hilarious. Violet has an attitude, and understandably so. She outwardly hates her father for his desertion of her and her little sister, she is protective of her little sister and feels she needs to watch out for her mom, while at the same time she has sworn off boys/men altogether except that oh, so cute Jean-Paul has started paying attention to her. Not a popular kid at school, she's mostly a loner but she isn't one to let other's push her around so she's often getting into trouble both at home and at school. She punches the most popular girl at school in the nose when she calls her mom a skank, she disses a 5 yo girl in her sister's after school daycare when she calls Rosie dumb, she allows her two half-sisters to eat cat poo and she has a phone conversation with her dad only responding with Magic 8 ball answers. These are just some of the antics you can expect from Violet, but none of it is done mean-spiritedly. I fell in love with Violet right from the beginning.

It's tough for Violet getting used to her Dad's glamourous LA lifestyle and new family and adjusting to her own new middle class life that may just include a dumpy, balding man called Dudley Wiener. But through it all, with the help of her eccentric but youthfully understanding mother, her mother's best friend, her own best friend, her psychiatrist parents and yes even, her dad, his new wife and Dudley she gets through this tense, hurtful stage of her life.

Susin Nielsen has written a book that is both poignant and witty. This was a can't put down book for me that I read quickly and yet didn't want it to end. It would be fun to meet Violet again sometime as she seems to be the type of person who will be up to antics all her life, whether she starts them or they happen to her. Lovely book, Violet is a memorable character in literature that will stay fondly with me.