Confessions of a Super Mom

Like its title character, this debut novel has a secret identity: while it appears too adorable at first, and too typical, it's unexpectedly poignant and packs an emotional punch despite the cheery veneer. Birdie Lee is a divorced, mild-mannered single mother of two who's proud of how she's raised her kids. She's a grocery store cashier with an obnoxious ex and an extensive knowledge of cleaning products, who's looked down upon by the town's über-parents, Patty and Lex Osborne, beloved producers of patriotic snack foods. But when Birdie passes out after mixing incompatible cleaning solvents, she develops a scrubby-yet-soft right palm and the uncontrollable urge and ability to clean filthy bathrooms in a single swipe. Suddenly Super Mom, Birdie realizes that not only can she prevent underage drinking and improper car-seat use but that the Osbornes are plotting to control children subliminally through marketing and use them as guinea pigs. The cuteness cup runneth over now and then, but at the heart of this story is a narrative about a lonely, wronged woman who just wants to do right by her children and stand up to an uncontrollable world. Hauser slips in soliloquies on motherhood and womanhood that, though brief, are moving, showing us Birdie Lee's heart and in that, the wishes and dreams of super moms everywhere. (Sept.)