MY MOMMY

by Susan Paradis & illustrated by Susan Paradis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 15, 2002

Paradis (My Daddy, 1998) turns her keen eye towards the unique bonds shared by mother and child. Brief declarative sentences describe the myriad activities a mother undertakes from dawn to dusk in the care and nurturing of her child. Yet these succinct statements become an eloquent avowal of a mother’s love through Paradis’s deft blending of text and enchanting images. Each spread features either a statement or a sentence fragment pertaining to a typical motherly action, printed in oversized bold face (“My mommy feeds me / and helps me start the day . . . She holds me tight / and let’s me go”) with a full-bleed painting on the facing page. Gentle brush strokes in varying hues of darkness and lightness enliven the serene background colors of the text pages. The illustrations are multi-dimensional; an animal pair mirrors the activity of the human mother and child. In one spread, a mother braids her daughter’s hair as a gorilla simultaneously picks through its offspring’s fur. Occasionally, the animal must be sought out, as in the elephant mother that frames the picture of the two children and the human parent who leans against the elephant’s leg as though it were a tree. Other paintings feature wildlife either observing or participating in the activities, such as the illustration that whimsically portrays a human and tiger mother observing their respective little ones riding a merry-go-round. Inserted into nearly every the picture is the ethereal figure of a mother stork, appearing somewhere in each scene much in the fashion of a benevolent guardian, who while nearly hidden, is always present. Cozy and comforting, Paradis’s tale is a testament to a mother’s devotion and a joy to read. (Picture book. 2-6)

Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2002

ISBN: 1-886910-73-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2002

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY