Yoga Pant Nation: A Novel

by Laurie Gelman

Overview

A Good Morning America Buzz Pick

From the author of Class Mom and You've Been Volunteered comes a new book on one mom's challenges through parenting and life, keeping her on her toes and perpetually in yoga pants.

Jen Dixon of Overland Park, Kansas—fearless mother of a fifth-grade boy and two thirty-something daughters—is used to juggling a lot, from her mission to become a spin instructor, to stepping in as the most acerbic class mom ever (again), to taking care of her two-year-old granddaughter. But when the PTA president throws her a mandate to raise $10,000 for the fifth-grade class, even unflappable Jen is going to need more than her regular spin class to get her through this final year at William Taft Elementary School.

In the midst of new complications—organizing the class overnight to Topeka, an unexpected spin class fan in the form of her husband’s crazy ex-wife, and trying to navigate her parents’ sudden descent into apparent delusions—Jen hardly has the patience to listen to yet another half-baked idea (come on, ladies, another wrapping paper sale?) from WeFUKCT (We Fundraise Until Kingdom Come Team), her fundraising committee. But if anyone can get elementary parents to pull off the impossible, it’s Jen Dixon.

With her always irreverent and laugh-out-loud humor—boldly holding forth on those things you’re thinking, but would never dare say out loud—Laurie Gelman shines a light on the indignities and hilarities of modern parenting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250777577
Publisher:	Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	07/13/2021
Series:	Class Mom Series , #3
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,121,604
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Laurie Gelman was born and raised in the Great White North. She spent twenty-five years as a broadcaster in both Canada and the United States before trying her hand at writing novels. The author of Class Mom and You’ve Been Volunteered, Laurie has appeared on Live with Kelly and Ryan, Watch What Happens Live, and The Talk, among others. She lives in New York City with her husband, Michael Gelman, and their two teenage daughters.

Editorial Reviews

Featured in Good Morning America’s “33 books to heat up your July,” Us Weekly’s “Us Musts” (7/19/21), and Forbes’s “The Books To Pack In Your Beach Bag When You’re In The Hamptons This Summer”

“[T]he third email-filled missive, full of capers, classrooms, and complications…Yoga Pant Nation is guiltily entertaining and pokes fun at the craziness of modern motherhood.”
—Good Morning America

“Laurie Gelman’s first two novels in the series were a hit—and it would be shocking if Yoga Pant Nation…didn’t follow suit.”
—Us Weekly

“[A] candid and engaging look at how a mom faces the challenges of daily living all while wearing a uniform of yoga pants.”
—Forbes

“Dixon wields her power through snarky emails, spin classes, skilled matchmaking, and adroit parenting choices, all the while clad for exercise…Ms. Gelman has an eye for the zeitgeist.”
—The East Hampton Star

“PTA presidents, aging parents, fifth-grade sleepovers… Jen’s struggles will be amusingly familiar to many women living in the sandwich generation, and fans of previous books in the series will be delighted to follow along with this latest outing of the mom who says the things they wish they could.”
—Booklist

"Another home run for Laurie Gelman! Yoga Pant Nation is hilarious and warm, with sharp observations and unforgettable characters. When I wasn’t laughing, I was cheering, rooting for a chaotic yet loving family that somehow manages to figure it all out."
—Byron Lane, author of A Star Is Bored

"By page three, I had already laughed out loud five times. Jen Dixon, everyone's favorite class mom, is back and better than ever. Gelman's razor sharp wit never falters in this page-turner. PTA-philes and phobes alike will revel in this hysterical romp, which packs big feelings and genuine emotion while delivering a chuckle a minute."
—Elyssa Friedland, author of Last Summer at the Golden Hotel

“Hilarious mom, daughter, wife, and grandma…not to mention room mom and overachieving fundraiser—Jen Dixon is the friend we all need in the journey of life!”
—Julie Chan, host of Beyond the Book with Julie

“I started laughing (and crying) from the first page. Laurie Gelman’s Yoga Pant Nation took me right back to my life navigating the treacherous world of overzealous parenting, negotiating with teachers, handling high-stakes snacks, and literally spinning. Let’s just hope the kids are all in camp this summer, so we can enjoy the perfect beach read. Bravo, Laurie Gelman!”
—Jane Ubell-Meyer, founder of Bedside Reading

“Jen Dixon is back…[with her] typical sarcasm, funny threats, and a side of shaming for those parents who don’t follow through with their duties…Gelman packs it in yet again…with the irresistibly uproarious one-liners [and] the cast of characters whom readers have loved since Class Mom… Readers will be changing from their ‘house’ yoga pants into their ‘dressy’ yoga pants.”
—Library Journal

“Jen Dixon is now a caregiving grandma, a classroom parent, a PTA fundraiser, and a spin instructor—Stay in the saddle, riders!…[T]he irresistibly snarky Jen…can still do jokes about spelt-spirulina pretzels and gluten-free cookies.”
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

02/01/2021

Jen Dixon is back, this time as class mom of her son Max's fifth and final grade at his elementary school. Her emails once again contain their typical sarcasm, funny threats, and a side of shaming for those parents who don't follow through with their duties. However, not only is she handling being class mom, the PTA president has roped her into raising money ($10,000 no less); she's also on a mission to become a certified spin instructor like her idol, Carmen, as well as the best grandmother to her daughter's two-year-old. Needless to say, Jen has a lot piled onto her plate. Gelman packs it in yet again with the third installment in the "Class Mom" series (after You've Been Volunteered), keeping up with the irresistibly uproarious one-liners, the cast of characters whom readers have loved since Class Mom, and the introduction of a new character, the "other" grandmother, who irritates Jen in more ways than one. VERDICT Readers will be changing from their "house" yoga pants into their "dressy" yoga pants—each pair with its own specific use—and all of those in between, and laughing all the way.—Erin Holt, formerly with Williamson County Public Library, Franklin, TN

Library Journal

2021-04-14
Jen Dixon is now a caregiving grandma, a classroom parent, a PTA fundraiser, and a spin instructor—Stay in the saddle, riders!

We met the irresistibly snarky Jen as a kindergarten parent in Gelman's debut, Class Mom (2017), and caught up with her in third grade in You've Been Volunteered (2019). As our 53-year-old heroine's son enters fifth grade, Gelman's comic style has gotten a wee bit cramped—for one thing, she's already made a lot of the possible jokes about riding herd on the other parents, but also the mores of 2021 have taken some of the teeth out of her comedy. She can still do jokes about spelt-spirulina pretzels and gluten-free cookies; when Jen takes care of her daughter Viv's out-of-wedlock 2-year-old three days a week, she learns that "everything I did for [Viv] as a child has caused adult-onset you-name-it," resulting in a "parenting style that can best be described as a cross between Mary Poppins and the surgeon general." On the other hand, great care must be taken not to offend anyone, removing a lot of comic potential. Gelman confesses in her acknowledgments that her editor had "the unfortunate job of telling me over and over again, 'You can't say things like that anymore.' " Honestly, you can tell, though the struggle to tamp down the inappropriate didn't quite succeed in this amusing sentence: "My parents' possible dementia is nothing to laugh about, but the people in the basement have become a scapegoat for everything from who ate the last cookie to who killed JonBenét Ramsey." What's added to fill the void is way, way too much spin class. Do Gelman's readers really want to hear so much about Jen's vigorous exercise program, including 6:30 p.m. yoga classes and insights like "I have discovered that yoga is a great counter-workout to spinning, which has a tendency to tighten up my legs and hip flexors"? Let's hope that middle school gives Jen more room to breathe.

Not the strongest of the series.

Kirkus Reviews