Miss Harper Can Do It: a review

I always like "finding" an author when they publish their first novel, and blogging has made that so much easier. During Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I won a package of different books from Bookin' with Bingo, and one was Miss Harper Can Do Itby Jane Berentson. As Annie Harper begins her third year of teaching, her daily life changes when her Army boyfriend is deployed to Iraq. Annie decides to keep a journal that may possibly become a book, and it is the first draft of these rambling musings that we are privileged to read, along with some of David and her email corrrespondence. Annie visits a knitting/social circle of Army wives, but realizes she has nothing in common with these women who live on base and lead an Army life. She reads Army wife blogs looking for support with some of her frustrations and feelings, and finds everything happy and wonderful with others left behind. Looking to fill her time and become a better person, Annie begins volunteering at a nursing home where she meets Loretta, a fun-loving 93 year old, who becomes a great supporter and de facto therapist. She also begins spending time with her childhood best friend Gus, newly arrived home after two years spent in Dominica teaching English, and decides to try caring for a pet. The pet storyline is particularly hilarious because she chooses to get a chicken, and the chicken information is also very funny. The book even has an appendix of Chicken Facts, which is very interesting!

In addition to the Chicken Facts, the 4 other appendices include a list of Annie's students, with descriptions, Physical Descriptions of Humans in This Story, Known Anomalies of Water, and Stupid Things I Considered Calling My Memoirs. I wish I had known about the list of humans and students, which would have been helpful while reading the book, so be sure you check for them in your copy.
I really enjoyed Jane Berentson's breezy writing style; it is very personal, and at times I felt like I wanted to say something to Annie, as if she were in the room pouring her heart out to me. In addition to the helpful and hilarious Appendices, the memoir is chock-full of hysterical footnotes giving the back story or further explanation of things Annie mentions in the body of her memoir.
I applaud Ms. Berentson for juggling her job teaching junior high Spanish in Brooklyn, with working on a Master's degree and Miss Harper Can Do It, and I look forward to her future novels.