Customer Reviews

When Moms Attack! (Lizzie McGuire, No. 1)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this book there are 2 stories the first one When Moms Attack is when Lizzie goes on a camping trip with her science teacher Mr. Pettus and her friends. When she learns that her mother is going on too she thinks she will have a terrible time. But she finds that it is kind of fun.
The second story is Between A Rock and A Bra Place in that story Lizzie and her friend Miranda wants to get a bra but when she tells her mom and they go to a store in the mall her mom starts embarrasing her. So she tells her they want to do it thereselves and after they are there for a short time she starts to realize that it would probably be easier with her mom. Both stories are very good so you should go out and get them!

Lizzie is only 13 years old but she's very spunky. When her mom is the chaperone of a school camping trip, of course, she freaks out. But, when her mom rallys the girls to get back at the guys after a water fight, she forgives her mom, and begins to have fun. But, then, she is embarssed out of her mind when her mom,Jo, takes her best friend and her bra shopping! This book was very good.

The book I am reviewing is Lizzie McGuire When Moms Attack. This book is written by Kim Ostrow. I think this book deserves five stars because it is a great book! There's two parts to this story. Part one is about Lizzie going camping. The mom that is chaperoning can't make it, so Mrs. McGuire volunteers to help out. The problem is Lizzie wants to be away from her parents and brother for the weekend and just wants to hang out with her two best friends Miranda and Gordo. Find out if Lizzie can survive her mom or not. The second part is about Lizzie and Miranda going to get a bra and doesn't want Mrs. McGuire to go with them so they lie and say they are going to get school supplies. There's just one problem Lizzie isn't very good at lying. When they're about to go Mrs. McGuire calls Gordo to come shopping for school supplies. Lizzie and Miranda don't want to go shopping with him so Lizzie said, "I want a bra o.k., a bra. At that point everyone just is staring at Lizzie and Miranda. While they are at the store they run into their English teacher and Kate and Claire. What could be worse than this? If you want to find out if Lizzie and Miranda can handle this, read this book. I think this is a great book.

The book is just like the epsiodes on tv but you in the book you can actually read what she is thinking. Also you can picture it different in your mind than what you see on the tv epsiode.

I would recomend this book for all Lizze Mcguire Fans

Kim Smooth

From Ohio

This book is cool coz it is based on the episodes. it has 2 stories in it so you get 2 for the price of 1. if u are a lizzie fan, then GET IT!!

Lizzie McGuire: When Moms Attack: Book Review

Don't let the title fool you, there are TWO, count 'em, TWO separate stories in this book. The title of this book "When Moms Attack" would suggest that it is just the novelization of the self same titled episode from the television series. But in fact there is another story, the second one being a novelization of the episode entitled "Between a Rock and a Bra Place". The common link between these two stories being Lizzie is embarrassed by the actions of her mom.

A novelization of a story that originates from a different medium is always a dicey thing to do. On the up side one gets a little more "inside the head" of the characters involved by way of the narration utilized. Not only do you read the dialogue that was spoken, but you also get to read what the characters are thinking while they are saying/doing something as opposed to just reading the gestures/expressions of an actor or actress portraying a particular character. That is the primary plus of reading a novelization of a movie or television show.

But that can also be a minus at times. Take for example an excerpt from the first story in this book, "When Moms Attack". The scene is towards the end of the story where Lizzie is trying to convince her former close friend Kate of the fact that she owes Lizzie's mom an apology:

"Lizzie stepped up close to Kate. 'Whatever happened to the Kate I used to be friends with? The Kate I used to go to sleepovers with?'

Kate was still eying Lizzie as if she were wearing last year's shoes. Lizzie could tell from the expression on Kate's face that she had to try another way to make her see the light."

Having watched the episode this story is a novelization of several times, to *me* it seems that when Kate is confronted by Lizzie's heartfelt appeal to their former friendship that her expression displays uncertainness, an unsettledness. Definitely not "eyeing Lizzie as if she were wearing last year's shoes". To me it looks as if Lizzie's mentioning of how Kate used to be somewhat shook the mask of the "new Kate". She looked a little ill at ease.

So a writer's interpretation of a scene can be different than one's own, and while obviously that's something that is going to happen, it is still a "minus" (albeit one that can not be helped).

Besides that, the one area a novelization cannot really convey well is the visuals of any given movie/television show. The dialogue can be faithfully reproduced, but the physical humor is not nearly as easy to do so. An action that may come off naturally funny on film seems somehow "weird" or "dumb" on paper. Not to mention site gags but also cameos.

For instance, the impact of the "mysterious stranger" in the second story of this book ("Between a Rock and a Bra Place") is totally lost upon the reader. But when one watches the episode the full import is perfectly clear. Long time television watchers know him to be David Carradine, playing himself dressed as, and acting like, the character that he is most famous for: Kwai Chang Caine from the television series "Kung Fu". The other half of this "in joke" is that David Carradine is the real life brother of Robert Carradine, who plays the part of Lizzie's dad on the show. This fact is even alluded to in a sly way in a line towards the end of the story ("I've known him all my life. He's like a brother to me.").

But all of this is lost in the novelization, and again it is one of the unfortunate things that cannot be helped. These are flaws that are an inherent part of novelizations, and not just this one. Though the narration might have been able to better convey it, some amount of "visuals" would be lost anyhow.

Oh, and one other thing. The narration relies on the reader knowing the source material for knowing what the characters look like, for no where in either story is it described what Lizzie or any of the other characters actually *look* like. If one hadn't already watched the television series one would come away with no real idea of what any of the characters look like, not even their hair color. That is something that should be addressed in coming books.

All that being said, this book (while short) does the two episodes represented justice. Kim Ostrow has done an admirable job of staying true to the characters and portraying them in the right tone the show tries to convey. While it could do with a little bit of tweaking, the book is a solid portrayal of the show and worth the money. I especially like how the "Animated Lizzie" segments of the show have stayed in, I had wondered what they would do with those, and the way they've found to incorporate them is great. I hope they come out with novelizations of all the episodes (and some original stories, approved by the show's creators of course, would be fantastic too).

Now my only question is this: When can we expect the DVD's?!?

I really enjoyed this book! The only thing that was confusing was that the title was deceving. When I purchesed the book,I tjought that there was only a novilisation of ONE episode in it, but this book was a novilisation of two episodes! Both When moms attack(like the title) and Between a rock and a bra place! I really enjoyed this book and recomend it to ANYONE who likes the lizzie mcguire show!