MOMMY'S LOVE

A board book highlights the special, expansive nature of motherly love.

Written using second-person narration, this declaration of unconditional maternal love features a blue-haired mother with olive-tinged skin and four children in her care; no parenting partner is pictured. The family is shown playing, doing domestic chores, engaging in extracurricular activities, and relaxing. But we also see struggle: siblings arguing; a child attempting to overcome a moment of shyness; another behaving selfishly, which leads to tears; and more. The rhyming text reassures readers that “no matter what you do or say, / Mommy loves you anyway.” The emotions are big: The toddlers at whom this board book is aimed will immediately recognize the anguish of having toys snatched away or the tugging match over an octopus toy in a shared bath. The cartoony digital illustrations are brightly colored with lime green, blue (the same cerulean tint as the mother’s hair), and shades of pink used as color motifs. The final spread flashes forward in time; we see a wall of framed photos of the children, now adults, posing with Mommy, now an elderly woman but with the same defiantly blue hair.

A sweet celebration of unconditional love and single parenting.