Happy Mother's Day!

Recently, my three year old has started to say, with a mischievous grin, "I don't love you," whenever I tell him I love him.  I know that he is learning about language and emotions and playing with meanings, but it is a bit heart-rending, nonetheless.  Luckily, my 21 month old is just starting to mimic "I love you," so from him I get "Ah-wuv-oo", which is heart-melting.

Being a mother runs the gamut of emotions on a daily basis, but loving your child never changes.  I've learned to relish the unexpected hug and the happy "Yay!" that accompanies an announcement that we are going somewhere they love, whether it is the park, the library, or the front yard.  These make up for the tantrums and the daily dinner mantra: "I don't like this..."

Happy Mother's Day!  Enjoy these heart-felt books.

My Mama Had a Dancing Heart (Author: Libba Moore Gray; Illustrator: Raul Colon) – The lyrical prose follows a mother and daughter as they dance their way through the seasons.  With wild abandon, the mother shows her daughter how to live joyfully and engage deeply with the natural world.  This book is an ideal choice for mothers, children, dancers, poets, and artists. 

Someday (Author: Alison McGhee; Illustrator: Peter H. Reynolds) – I have used this book as a new mother gift and a Mother’s Day gift, perfect for mothers and daughters.  It is not so much a story, as a dream list, beginning with a mother and her baby girl (“One day I counted your fingers and kissed each one.”) and ending with the girl as an old woman, remembering her mother.  Beautifully illustrated moments in time tug at the heart strings.  Be forewarned, this is a tear-jerker.  But sometimes, you just need to cry at the beauty the parent-child relationship can hold.

Tweak Tweak (Author: Eve Bunting; Illustrator: Sergio Ruzzier) – A little elephant asks many questions of her mother while they are on a walk together.  This sweet book highlights a child’s curiosity and a mother’s role in teaching, encouraging, loving, and, eventually, letting go.

Motherbridge of Love (Text by ‘anonymous’ for the charity Mother Bridge of Love; Illustrated by Josée Masse) – This beautiful text deals with the two different kinds of love: that of a birth mother and an adoptive mother.  Adoptive children often question where they come from and this book is a sensitive way to begin a conversation.  The charity Mother Bridge of Love was started in 2004 to create a resource for adopted Chinese children, that bridges China and the West.

Mama’s Day (Author: Linda Ashman; Illustrator: Jan Ormerod) – Celebrating a mother’s love for her child, this book highlights the special things mothers do with and for their babies, while the side illustrations are rich springboards for lap stories as you share this book with a child.  A quintessential Mother’s Day pick!