Children's Day & Summer Book Review - Our Mothers' Names

One of the beautiful things about our country is there are so many people here from so many different countries. This diversity adds so much "color" and beauty to our country and makes it a much better place for all of us. I love Our Mothers' Names written by Uma Menon and illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell from Candlewick Press - it is a truly beautiful book in every way.

Favorite Features -

• Illustrations are absolutely beautiful - full of color, detail, and love!
• I love how this story is about ways we are unique, and yet, still the same. We all have moms whether we call them Nanay, Ma, Anne, Mamma, Amma, or Mom - they all mean "love" in any language!
• I love the "Did You Know" info in the back - so interesting!

Candlewick Press says, "'Thank you, Amma,' says the child as her mother praises a birdhouse she’s making with her friend Angelina. With two languages spoken at home, English and Malayalam (the most common language in Kerala, India, where her parents and grandparents were born), Amma is a word the child uses for her Indian-American mom. But Angelina, whose family is from Mexico City, says that her mother is called Mamá. And there are so many other names for mother! Thea’s mother is Greek and known as Mana. Francisco’s family is from Brazil, where moms answer to Mãe. Aliya is fluent in Arabic, whose word for mother is Umma. . . . With just a peek at the many ways to say mother among the world’s thousands of languages, the author and illustrator behind My Mother’s Tongues have fashioned another love letter to family bonds and heritage, another salute to multilingualism for a world which grows smaller and more connected day by day."

I love how this beautiful book communicates an important message - while we may be diverse and unique, we are really more alike than we realize and the things which make us different just adds to the beauty of our world. Our Mothers' Names is a book which is meant to be enjoyed with the children you love - it makes a fantastic gift for Children's Day, a birthday, or for Summer Reading Fun! link.