It was going to be a cinch. It’s May! Select picture books to share that celebrate the unique relationship between mother & child. Read. Describe. Review. Repeat. This bond, singular & profound, is explored in thousands of stories by as many storytellers. I can imagine that even in the time it’s taken to write these few words, a new wrinkle, a fresh take has been conceived & is emerging somewhere from someone’s imagination. That’s a beautiful thing.
So as I went about my search for a few special books to write about this month, I found myself gravitating toward the stories that have mothers & children at the center but include a wider cast of characters in supporting roles. It takes a village, after all. I tossed the net farther & wider to find examples of community where extended families & friends, teachers, pets, neighbors, classmates, owls, whales, the sun, the moon, the sky, the ocean…all have a role in welcoming, nurturing & protecting our young. Here are just a few of the many I enjoyed. Bouquets to all!
On the Day You Were Born
Frasier, Debra. 1991
I went to my own bookcase for this one. In a beautiful coincidence, Frasier’s praise poem was published just months after my son was born. I loved it–& him–in ways I couldn’t have imagined before they both came into my life. From the dedication to Mother Earth & every new babe on the planet, Frasier proceeds to enlist every creature & planetary force, natural wonder & human being to the welcome dance. Welcome to the spinning world. Welcome to the green Earth. We are so glad you’ve come.
Intricate paper collages fairly buzz with the energy of life. Colorful cut-outs cast light on the reader when the sun & moon come out or when Polaris appears high above the North Pole. What an invitation! What a beautiful start to life!
In Every Life
Frazee, Marla. 2024
Talk about art imitating life! This luminous picture book owes its inspiration to a version of a baby-naming ceremony in the Jewish tradition. Frazee writes that she immediately recognized its potential as a picture book but couldn’t quite get a handle on it until 2020 when everything in the world turned upside down & inside out. Despite the staggering loss of life & attendant grief that enveloped the globe, hope endured. Something fundamental to our existence remained constant: Life is a miracle. Life is a blessing. Life is LIFE. As she put the finishing touches on this light- & love-filled ode to the human spirit, her first grandchild was born.
Frazee’s art is rendered in pencil & gouache on hot press paper, & the text is hand lettered. This description hardly captures the treat you are in for when you have a look, though. You may need sunglasses for the glow of her imagery & a tissue for scenes of friends & families in good times & bad. Most of all be prepared to go forth & share the inspiration you derive from these blessings.
Who’s Your Real Mom?
Green, Bernadette. Illus. by Anna Zobel. 2020
Meet Elvi & Nicholas, best friends who share everything from breakfast to sleepovers. Nicholas is practically a member of the family, but there’s one thing he can’t quite figure out. Which of the women who live with & care for Elvi–& him when he’s around–is the “real” Mom? This question isn’t new in picture books. From P.D. Eastman’s interspecies take on caregivers in Are You My Mother? (1960) to the ground-breaking Heather Has Two Mommies (1989) by Leslea Newman to newer titles like A Family Is a Family Is a Family by Sara O’Leary (2016) that feature a plethora of human family configurations, this notion of who’s the real deal in caregiving shows no sign of being settled. I think that’s a good thing.
What’s special here is the delightful exchange between the two children. Nicholas submits that only the person who had Elvi in her tummy can be her real mom. Elvi counters with one hint after another. She’s wearing jeans. They’re both in jeans. She’s got dark hair. They both have dark hair. Nicholas insists on a good clue. She speaks fluent gorilla. She cartwheels up mountains. She’s a pirate in disguise with pockets full of gold! Elvi!! Nicholas cries in exasperation. Just tell me who your real mom is! Delight in Elvi’s final reply. Yellows, golds, & browns comprise most of the illustrator’s palette; ink & marker bring this true-blue friendship to life.
The Ways We Say “I Love You”
Hadilaksono, Caroline. 2024
According to an author’s note, the storyteller, illustrator & audio producer, Hadilaksono, left her home in Indonesia & traveled by herself to the United States when she was just twelve years old. We can only imagine why. We can wonder about the ways in which love was—or wasn’t—offered to her as a child. We can even be curious about how this gifted artist seems to have come through it all with the lovely perspective she shares here.
We see families, small & large, doing the myriad things that signal love whether or not the words ‘I love you’ are spoken aloud. Caring is sharing food, telling stories, really listening, learning something new together, sharing food, saying teary goodbyes when visits end…did I mention sharing food? Tender scenes rendered in watercolor & gouache with a display type created by Hadilaksono remind us that love given, whatever form it takes, increases our capacity to receive it. Here’s folk singer & songwriting legend, Malvina Reynolds, adding her magical two cents.
Hippely, Hilary Horder. Illus. by Matt James. 2024
Wisdom abounds in this new tale from Seattle writer, Hilary Hippely. Belle & her mother used to live in a house with a table & chairs & a sleepy cat. Now they live in their blue car at the edge of a shade-filled park where a hoot owl roosts overhead. The unfamiliar hoo-hoo-hoooo! keeps Belle awake & a little uneasy as she & Mother snuggle under heaps of blankets at the end of a long day. Before Mother drifts off to sleep, she reassures Belle that they are lucky the owl is nearby & keeping its wise eyes on them. A few nights later, instead of serenading the two, the owl swoops down from its perch & meets Belle’s astonished eyes with its own wild ones. She imagines it is the creature’s way of saying, I’m glad you’re here. I like sharing my home with you.
In a nifty bit of foreshadowing, the story begins with Belle’s teacher telling the class they’ll be learning to draw owls that day. By coincidence—or not as we discover–Belle’s drawing is the best in her class, the most lifelike…& for a captivating reason. Matt James’s use of acrylics on Masonite are childlike in the best possible way. His choices of color & perspective amplify the light & dark of Belle’s days & nights. You might even startle like I did when you meet Belle’s owl & truly appreciate all the reasons why she draws it so well.
A Face Is a Poem
Morstad, Julie. 2024
I discovered Morstad & her many gifts as artist & storyteller during my gig shelving children’s books in the Canmore Library. My enchantment began with her illustrations for Kyo Maclear’s It Began With a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way (2019). It continues with this beauty & everything that came before…& will no doubt follow.
Behold the face! This ode to how we meet & greet the world is many things. It’s droll & whimsical when it wonders if we would still know each other if we changed faces every morning. It’s silly & sweet when it asks what color freckles we’d choose to sprinkle on if we could. It’s thought-provoking & wise when it suggests we might understand each other better if our mouths could speak every language. A face is a window. A face changes over time. A face is to love. Morstad used pencil, chalk pastels, watercolor, pencil crayons, & collage to create the art. I don’t see magic anywhere on the list of materials, but it’s there.
NOTE: Read on to enjoy a bonus post from Julie Larios! Public libraries as we know & love them in the U.S. are under pressure. There’s one in VT that’s underwater, literally. See how one community came together to save it–book by book.
