Mama Says: A Book of Love for Mothers and Sonsby Rob D. Walker
illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon
The Blue Sky Press (Scholastic)
April, 2009
review copy provided by the publisher
This is a book for every mother of sons and for all sons. It is perfect for Mother's Day, baby showers, graduations, birthdays, and just because it's so beautiful.
Each double page spread in the book features wisdom from a mother written in English and another language (12 in all) with a gorgeous painting by the Dillons of a mother and son in the culture that speaks that language. On the cover you see the painting of the Cherokee mother. Her wisdom is:
Mama says
Be good
Mama says
Be kind
Mama says
The rain will come
But still the sun will shine
The mothers in this book (who speak Cherokee, Russian, Amharic, Japanese, Hindi, Inuktitut, Hebrew, Korean, Arabic, Quechua, Danish and English) teach the importance of kindness, sharing, diligence, faith, courage and a willingness to always try your best -- and the paintings and translations show us that these are universal traits that all mothers teach to their sons.
This is a perfect choice for the Diversity Rocks challenge.
