In My Heart, by Molly Bang (Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006). This book is great on so many levels! Kyle and Owen like it a lot, and have for at least a year or two now. In the book the mama is a veterinarian and assures her young son that he is “in her heart” all the time, no matter what she is doing, even when she’s at work. The illustrations are awesome. The extra special twist is that the child in the book appears to have been adopted! He’s dark-skinned with dark hair, while both of his parents are fair-skinned with light hair. This gets it a big huge gold star in our book (no pun intended); it should go without saying that it is unique (i.e., beyond rare!) to find children’s books picturing inter-racial –apparently adoptive— families when the book’s subject isn’t specifically focused on adoption. A wonderful book for young kids with working mamas!
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When Mama Comes Home Tonight, by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Jane Dyer (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, 1998). This book is a current favorite of Meera’s. We have it in the board book edition, which is just perfect for this sweet little book. In the book the mama comes home from work to enjoy simple pleasures with her toddler daughter. The reassuring message is definitely received by Meera; it seems to give her comfort to have this book read to her (and read it to her we do—over and over and over again!). A wonderful book for babies and toddlers with working mamas!
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I titled this post “2 Great Children’s Books for Working Mamas” on purpose. Because, while I know these books are for kids, I’m pretty sure that –at least in this house— the Mama gets just as much out of them as the bambinos do. Happy reading!
thanks fr the recmmendatins! (srry, the letter befre p is nt wking n my keybard)
Thanks for the suggestions… We are always looking for relevant books to add to our collection!
And, oh goodness, that pic of you with the baby boys… were they really ever that tiny? Time definitely flies when you have kids!
i just love these sweet pics. children books are my favourite.
Have you come across the Topsy and Tim books? They’re typical New Experience books for kids (Topsy and Tim Start School, Go to the Doctor, Go to the Dentist, Go on an Aeroplane etc) but the later books feature Topsy and Tim’s sister Tansy, who is transracially adopted. Again, it’s not made a big deal of – they just happen to have a black sister.
http://books.ladybird.co.uk/nf/Search/QuickSearchProc/1,,,00.html?strSearch=&searchProfile=UK-616097-global&advSearchStr=&homeNav=Y&adv=0&travel=&sortBy=pubdateDsc&curPage=3&textSearch=&retainableText=&path=c616097-00000000%23%23-1%23%23-1~~q6d6574612e636f6c6c656374696f6e3a696d70756c7365~~nf32||546f70737920616e642054696d
Sorry, try http://www.topsyandtim.com/. They were huge in Britain in the 1970/80s and are still in print today – don’t know if they’re available in the States.