“I’ve now got two mums, sort of, but only one’s actually mine,” says 14-year-old Taylor, the teen protagonist of this hybrid graphic-and-text story about a blended family, told in a style reminiscent of the bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Taylor is full of teen angst and often grumpy, but she’s also dealing with her mother’s new girlfriend, Nina, who’s just moved in with two young kids, a dog, and a hamster. Taylor’s twin Caleb just withdraws, but Taylor has feelings. “This isn’t a diary. It’s a survival manual,” she writes.
As the mums try bonding experiences like family movie night, Taylor becomes more cynical. And she admits to her diary that she’s not really okay with her mom being in a relationship with another woman—it’s “a lot to adjust to.” As the narrative plays out, however, we see that it isn’t a matter of homophobia as much as the fact that “I’ve already got a mum. A good one,” as Taylor explains. She doesn’t need or want a “bonus mum.” (We also learn that Taylor has a dad, presumably the person their mum was with before Nina, but that Nina’s kids have a donor.)
Eventually, though, things in the house seem to settle down, and Taylor begins to find good moments in her new family life, even though she still misses the way things were. There are still hurdles and adjustments (and an unfortunately homophobic babysitter), but eventually, Taylor decides she doesn’t hate the way things are. That ending feels less than conclusive, but in this case, that feels commendable; a big family change doesn’t always resolve itself neatly, and complicated feelings can last for a while.
Taylor’s six parody versions of Taylor Swift songs, with the lyrics changed to be about their family life (“This is not a love story, it’s a family remix”), may particularly amuse Swifties, although they may not resonate with all readers. Despite Taylor’s humorous snark, though, she weaves in some useful advice that may resonate with readers in blended families, such as “Questions about family at school? Keep answers short and simple. Your family, your rules.”
The story offers an amusing look at blended family life that doesn’t flinch away from the hard moments even as it offers hope that blending can happen.
Backmatter includes room for readers to draw and/or write about their own families. A few terms (“mum”; “innit”; “Jaffa Cake”) reveal the book’s British origins, but should be easily understood from context by readers elsewhere. The book is part of The Blended Diaries, a set of titles that follow the same blended family from different perspectives and are aimed at different ages of readers, including younger children and adults.
The family is White. A cousin who appears briefly in one scene is a trans man.
