The Mothers of Country Day

by Arlene Matthews

Standardized test fraud, secrets, and scandal at a posh suburban private school...

When Josie Messina’s math wizard 12-year-old son earns a scholarship to one of New Jersey’s toniest private schools, Josie feels blessed but intimidated. Will a hardworking, cash-strapped single mom fit in with the wealthy, fashionable mothers of Little Fawn Country Day?

But when Josie runs into Country Day’s most famous parent, rock legend Billy Stand – known to her as the boy she used to babysit – their embrace in the school parking lot, viewed by three of the school’s most influential social butterflies, rockets Josie to “in crowd” status. What happens next will bring truth to the warning, “Be careful what you wish for.”

Little Fawn Country Day is a hotbed of intrigues, including: a home-wrecking kindergarten teacher, a scheming dad selling shares in a bogus IPO, a desperate college applicant on a hunger strike, and a headmaster who will do anything to fund his school expansion campaign and raise his students’ standardized test scores.

This timely, irreverent send-up of contemporary academia – and the ways of the wicked “one percent” – will delight any parent who has ever been dragged to a PTA fundraiser, has sweated out her children’s grades and college prospects, or who has wondered what, exactly, her kids are learning at school all day.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction

194 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 2012

Reviews

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great look into the crazy cut-throat world of East Coast private schools full of parents, kids, and administrators who will do anything to get ahead. Matthews does a wonderful job of providing different points of views and struggles for all her characters and breaks up each chapter nicely with fun add-ins like e-mail or journal correspondence of the characters. It's a great way of moving along the plot that makes the book just fly by!

[Shayla Drumm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a giveaway on Goodreads and was very excited to begin reading. The characters were believable, colorful, and entertaining. This was a quick, fun read ideal for summer days or a relaxing weekend. Eduacation is a universal subject that we all can relate to in some form or another and the plot is just outrageous enough to be believable!! I would recommend this book to those who enjoy a good laugh! I passed this book along to my mom so she can enjoy it as well.

[K Lauer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just ok,.enjoyable as a resident of Rumson, the au
thor references our area

[DesertReal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 really really really scattered stars.

But first there was so much that was highly enjoyable-
The snark! The witty superficial cutthroat passive aggressive politics at play in a private school!
So much to enjoy and explore in so little time!
The only problem is...the story wasn't focused.
As well written and evocative as it was, there were too many freaking people.
Too many characters, side characters, and supporting characters, to the point where I was forced to skim. Heavily. Which caused me to lose interest, and the thread of the first few characters that I actually liked. With a better editor, stronger focus, and concentration on the plot- this could've been a riot. Instead, it's a story about a single mom, a newly single teacher, a married rockstar that the single mom used to babysit, the single mom's son, a rich mom that is obsessed with her daughter getting into Brown, the daughter that is so obsessed with getting into Brown that she develops an eating disorder, a corrupt husband who is heading up a Ponzi scheme, the principle of said school, the secretary of said school, another rich mom from another old money family, the old money family's son, a kindergarten teacher who all the dad's lust after, a computer lab teacher, an ex gambler, and... somehow I feel like I've left a few people out.
I wish I was kidding.
This story is crowded like an Agatha Christie, but with wayyyy more filler and even more unnecessary details.
But I still enjoyed it!
It just could've been so much better...

[Lea Columbus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the first half of this book. It was a hybrid of Big Little Lies, and Class Mom. It tells the story of a private school in New Jersey and the families, students and teachers. Josie runs a small restaurant, raising her son after her husband ran out on her. Her son, a math prodigy, has been recruited by a private school as a scholarship student to bring up test scores. The principal also has plans to use the child's computer skills to hack into the Dept of Ed website to change test scores. Most of the moneyed parents are prepared to ignore Josie and her son,until Billy Stand( a Springsteenesque singer who has moved back to his old home town) is found to be an old friend of Josie's( she was his babysitter). Then the moneyed set want to be her friend.The story includes, computer espionage,fraudulent trading, alcoholism , anorexia and helicopter parenting.It is good, but could have been better. I felt like stories were wrapped up quickly , instead of well. And again, the tired use of the epilogue that wraps things up, instead of telling end of the story. Can we please go back to ending a story,instead of the obligatory"wrapup"?        

[gail · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope

This book wanted me to put it down so many times, I read it as one looks vat a car crash, can't stop. Would have left this book with the rising tide ...if I would have known ..

[Patty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely horrible!

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read, but it just didn't keep me interested. I would recommend it for a beach day perhaps.

[Tierney Chadwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slow read

While parts are amusing, the story is predictable and not very well written. I think the author needed deeper character development.

[Payton Shepherd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read, kinda hard to follow who was talking at points. Easy mindless palette cleanser book

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received as a Goodreads.com gift. As a person who grew up in New Jersey, went to a boarding prep school, worked in Greenwich Ct, and has served on the board of a Catholic School which goes up to 8th Grade, and on the board of the 1st Montessori school in the USA, located in Greenwich, I feel every word of the story in my inner being. Other than the sneaky characters (Principal, one teacher and one parent) it portrays the different parents and children one comes across. I liked the replication of the Fund-Raising Invitations and the pages of diary notes. I would hate to send a child to that school though. The private schools I know are trying so hard to truly teach thinking and subject matter better than public schools can do with their big classes.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a quick, fun read. I loved the crazy antics that kept the characters occupied. It just shows that people with too much money and not enough sense will get themselves into all kinds of trouble. I grew up in NJ, but down in south Jersey. My neighborhood was middle class and all surrounding neighborhoods were middle to lower middle class, so even though I went to a private school, fund raisers were more of the car wash/sub sale variety. My dad was a math teacher and my mom taught English, so the idea of "organic" learning and throwing out all those pesky fundamental rules of math and language made me laugh out loud. This really was an entertaining read and one which I would recommend to others.

[Susan Becraft · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satire and truth

I am almost reluctant to characterize this story as good satire because I unfortunately know many of the characters. Living in the rarified air of prep school mania in Manhattan, where anxious newlyweds enroll yet-to-be-conceived munchkins in elite learning institutions, I was not exactly laughing as I read the book. Yes, satire is an exaggeration of the truth, but parts of this story could be nonfiction.

Arlene Matthews scored high points with me when she compared the New Age-ish "education" provided by Little Fawn Country Day with the traditional curriculum taught at Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow. Whether it be New Math, Common Core, phonics and other wacky ideas, nothing so far has been as successful as the three Rs. Cogito ergo sum.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parody of one year at a private school in the northeast, which focuses on single mother Josie and her scholarship son, although there are a few other moms that get some attention including a mom obsessed with getting her so-so daughter into Brown, a rich philanthropist who isn't sure if she should keep her kids at the school and a mom whose husband recently had an affair with the kindergarden teacher. Other characters include the shady head master and his minion, the computer teacher he coaxed into changing state test scores on line and a rock star who is back in town to raise his twins.

[Karen Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was delighted that my daughter won this book on Goodreads because it gave me the opportunity to read it too. It especially touched my heart as an educator to read about different situations in a school setting. The author shared both humerous and serious situations. I found the book entertaining, lighthearted, and fun to read.

[Lizz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm... I seem to be in the minority here. I didn't love this one. Our son went to private school K-12 and while there are people like these, there are a lot more lovely, caring, fabulous people. I realize, however, that a book about the nice, normal people wouldn't be as interesting to read. A dilemma.

[Malea Grubb · Rating 1 out of 5]

Silly Read

Nothing really interesting about this book. As a child I attended a "Country Day" school similar to this one, but this author chose cheap tricks to make an interesting, if every-day setting boring and stupid. Definitely don't read!

[Kelsey Wilcox]

WANNA READ!!!!!!! :D

[Pauline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, fun read, especially if you are from the Monmouth County, NJ area where this fictional story is based. Gotta love the "NJ ASS" and "Everyman Math". :-)

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not at all like anything I would normally read, but given to me by a colleague. It was a short, fun satire on independent schools and the parents, faculty, and administrators.

[Patti Forsman]

Ok

[Jen Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good read! Loved all the webs and turns of this community. Super quick read, great beach read.

[Nicole]

Too boring! I'm quitting this one.

[Heather Reese · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mindless super quick read.

[Wanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ridiculous!

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute

Easy read. Somewhat fluffy but not in a horrible way. I would consider it a good beach book but nothing really beyond that here.

[Margo Marks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I just want to fly through a book that's entertaining, fun and light. This book is just that. An easy read with relate-able moments and characters we've all met in real life.

[Abby Jean · Rating 1 out of 5]

nope.