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<\/figure>\nOn the Day You Were Born<\/strong><\/p>\n Frasier, Debra. 1991<\/p>\n 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.<\/em> <\/p>\n 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!<\/p>\n In Every Life<\/strong><\/p>\n Frazee, Marla. 2024<\/p>\n 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\u2019t 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.<\/em> As she put the finishing touches on this light- & love-filled ode to the human spirit, her first grandchild was born.<\/p>\n Frazee\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s Your Real Mom?<\/strong><\/p>\n Green, Bernadette. Illus. by Anna Zobel. 2020<\/p>\n Meet Elvi & Nicholas, best friends who share everything from breakfast to sleepovers. Nicholas is practically a member of the family, but there\u2019s one thing he can\u2019t quite figure out. Which of the women who live with & care for Elvi–& him when he\u2019s around–is the \u201creal\u201d Mom? This question isn\u2019t new in picture books. From P.D. Eastman\u2019s interspecies take on caregivers in Are You My Mother? <\/em><\/strong>(1960) <\/em>to the ground-breaking Heather Has Two Mommies<\/em><\/strong> (1989)<\/em> by Leslea Newman to newer titles like A Family Is a Family Is a Family<\/em><\/strong> by Sara O\u2019Leary (2016)<\/em> that feature a plethora of human family configurations, this notion of who\u2019s the real deal in caregiving shows no sign of being settled. I think that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n What\u2019s 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. <\/em>Elvi counters with one hint after another. She\u2019s wearing jeans<\/em>. They\u2019re both in jeans. She\u2019s got dark hair. <\/em>They both have dark hair. <\/em>Nicholas insists on a good clue. She speaks fluent gorilla. She cartwheels up mountains. She\u2019s a pirate in disguise with pockets full of gold! <\/em>Elvi!! Nicholas cries in exasperation. Just tell me who your real mom is! Delight in Elvi\u2019s final reply. Yellows, golds, & browns comprise most of the illustrator\u2019s palette; ink & marker bring this true-blue friendship to life. <\/p>\n The Ways We Say \u201cI Love You\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Hadilaksono, Caroline. 2024<\/p>\n According to an author\u2019s 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\u2014or wasn\u2019t\u2014offered 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. <\/p>\n We see families, small & large, doing the myriad things that signal love whether or not the words \u2018I love you\u2019<\/em> are spoken aloud. Caring is sharing food, telling stories, really listening, learning something new together, sharing food, saying teary goodbyes when visits end\u2026did 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\u2019s folk singer & songwriting legend, Malvina Reynolds, adding her magical two cents.<\/p>\n Hippely, Hilary Horder. Illus. by Matt James. 2024<\/p>\n 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!<\/em> keeps Belle awake & a little uneasy as she & Mother snuggle under heaps of blankets<\/em> 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\u2019s astonished eyes with its own wild ones. She imagines it is the creature\u2019s way of saying, I\u2019m glad you\u2019re here. I like sharing my home with you.<\/em><\/p>\n In a nifty bit of foreshadowing, the story begins with Belle\u2019s teacher telling the class they\u2019ll be learning to draw owls that day. By coincidence\u2014or not as we discover–Belle\u2019s drawing is the best in her class, the most lifelike\u2026& for a captivating reason. Matt James\u2019s use of acrylics on Masonite are childlike in the best possible way. His choices of color & perspective amplify the light & dark of Belle\u2019s days & nights. You might even startle like I did when you meet Belle\u2019s owl & truly appreciate all the reasons why she draws it so well.<\/p>\n A Face Is a Poem<\/strong><\/p>\n Morstad, Julie. 2024<\/p>\n I discovered Morstad & her many gifts as artist & storyteller during my gig shelving children\u2019s books in the Canmore Library. My enchantment began with her illustrations for Kyo Maclear\u2019s It Began With a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way <\/em><\/strong>(2019).<\/em> It continues with this beauty & everything that came before\u2026& will no doubt follow.<\/p>\n Behold the face! This ode to how we meet & greet the world is many things. It\u2019s droll & whimsical when it wonders if we would still know each other if we changed faces every morning. It\u2019s silly & sweet when it asks what color freckles we\u2019d choose to sprinkle on if we could. It\u2019s 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.<\/em> Morstad used pencil, chalk pastels, watercolor, pencil crayons, & collage to create the art. I don\u2019t see magic anywhere on the list of materials, but it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n NOTE: <\/strong> 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. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":278046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99027,101,106218,96625,98149,106224],"tags":[9093,467,1868,2721],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-278045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review-2","category-books","category-childrens-book-critique-group-blog","category-family","category-love","category-memoir","tag-amp","tag-day","tag-happy","tag-mothers"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/booksaroundthetable.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/in-every-life-2.jpg\")
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