Between Mom and Jo

Nick has a three-legged dog named Lucky, some pet fish, and two moms who think he's the greatest kid ever. And he happens to think he has the greatest Moms ever, but everything changes when his birth mom and her wife Jo start to have marital problems. Suddenly, Nick is in the middle, and instead of having two Moms to turn to for advice, he has no one.

Nick's emotional struggle to redefine his relationships with his parents will remind readers that a family's love can survive even the most difficult times.

"Nick, 14, tells his story in flashbacks, revealing what it was like growing up with his two moms — and watching their relationship fall apart. Peters's (Luna) novel is much more than a story about a gay family. While Nick and his mothers do deal with discrimination (his third-grade teacher does not hang up the family picture he drew, for example), they have all too normal troubles as well, such as Jo's alcoholism, Erin's breast cancer, and eventually Erin's budding relationship with another woman. The author draws the protagonists as full-blooded characters, and readers will likely find it easy to relate to them. Jo struggles to hold down a job, but rescues animals and ferociously protects Nick (after some fifth-graders tease the then-kindergartner about his family, she stands at the school fence for a week, 'posturing like a tough guy'). Erin, meanwhile, resents being the responsible one, yet she still gets drafted into the family's watermelon seed — spitting contest. When Nick learns of their separation, his 'heart rips. A black hole opens up.' Readers may have trouble believing that Erin, Nick's biological mother, would prevent him from seeing Jo after they split up, but overall, they will touched by this story about the struggles of a realistically flawed family. Ages 12-up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"The characters are complex, appealing, and likable....[T]he book is often funny, often deeply emotional, and always well worth reading." Children's Literature

"This coming-of-age novel powerfully portrays the universal pain of a family breakup. It also portrays what is still a 'weird' situation to many people...as totally normal from one young man's point of view." School Library Journal

"An un-romanticized look at divorce and parent-child relationships, as well as an addition to the tiny canon about gay parents." Kirkus Reviews

Nick has a three-legged dog named Lucky, some pet fish, and two moms who think he's the greatest kid ever. And he happens to think he has the greatest Moms ever, but everything changes when his birth mom and her wife Jo start to have marital problems. Suddenly, Nick is in the middle, and instead of having two Moms to turn to for advice, he has no one. Nick's emotional struggle to redefine his relationships with his parents will remind readers that a family's love can survive even the most difficult times.

Julie Anne Peters is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Define Normal, Keeping You a Secret, and Far from Xanadu. She lives in Lakewood, Colorado, and her Web site is juliepeters.com.