My mummy is a monster.
She hides it very well.
For young children relationship with a parent is an anchor and a stable place from which to grow into the world and here a little boy expresses the love and security and warmth he feels for his parent. He describes his mother as the sum of her parts– her lips that can kiss, her fingers that can tickle, her arms that hug, and her legs that can leap puddles. But there is more! She is, he claims, a monster! She is somewhat outlandishly dressed with headbands and slippers and earrings and painted nails all suggestive of the horns and tails and pointed claws of a monster. This is a monster in the guise of a smiling mother who walks him to school, cleans the oven and drinks tea with friends, who knows he needs her when he falls off his bike, has eyes in the back of her head as he sneaks into the cookie jar and is able to grow protectively large and fierce in the face of a dog that frightens him.
Pages are bright with colour and humorous drawings enhance the text. Indeed, Mummy has a voice like a foghorn and the accompanying drawing reveals the boy’s embarrassment at being cheered loudly in a football game.
This book has a satisfying rhyme and rhythm that cries out to be read aloud and shared. Its warmth and cheerfulness are perfect for a mother and child to share a hug and laugh together. Now the fathers and grandmas and grandpas need a book to share with their special child as well!
Reviewer: Clare Lyons
OneTree House
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