Bibliography:
Polacco, Patricia. 2009. IN OUR MOTHERS' HOUSE. Ill. Patricia Polacco. New York City, NY: Penguin Young Readers Group. ISBN 978-0-399-25076-7.
Plot Summary:
In Our Mothers' House is the story of a family with two mothers and three adopted children that is told from the oldest child's perspective. Meema and Marmee, as the children call their Mom's, are two loving woman who have created a home where cooking, art, dancing, playing and kindness for others is always important and encouraged. Meema and Marmee bring the neighbors together by doing such things as building a tree house and organizing a Woolsey Street block party. There is one neighbor, Ms. Lockner, who does not agree with how Meema and Marmee live their life but fortunately for Meema and Marmee they have a wonderful group of neighbors who love them and their children and come together to lend support with Ms. Lockner is not kind.
Critical Analysis:
I absolutely love this book, it is now one of my favorites. I love how the story begins with the arrival of their first child and it ends with their son living in the home with his own family after Meema and Marmee have passed away. It is a lovely heartwarming story about two woman who have raised wonderful children who are kind and thoughtful, two qualities any parent would want their child to have. When Meema and Marmee are approached by a rude neighbor they brush off her comments and don't go into any explanation with their children about why she is the way she is. They are able to brush off comments until Meema and Marmee are verbally attacked by this neighbor in front of all the other neighbors at their block party. It is at that moment that Meema and Marmee explain very simply to their children what their neighbors problem is. As Meema states, "She is full of fear, sweetie. She's afraid of what she cannot understand: she doesn't understand us." Marmee adds, "There seems to be no love in her heart, either." I love how they explain the situation to their children in a way that does not put the other person down or is unkind, it's very simple, something a child can really understand.
I really think the illustrations in this book are great, they are so colorful and the story and illustrations represent people of every size, shape and color and that is wonderful. I love how detailed the pictures are such as the kitchen pictures, it's so realistic. You can tell Patricia Polacco had fun drawing the illustrations for this book, they aren't perfect illustrations but they are fun to look at. I do not feel there were any huge stereotypes within this book as there is the potential for them. Many woman today choose not to wear dresses, Meema and Marmee are both in the medical field which I feel is pretty normal for woman who work in the medical field to not wear dresses, many woman don't wear them hanging out at the house either. I think Patricia Polacco did a wonderful job overall with the story and the illustrations.
Patricia Polacco saw a need for a children's book that features nontraditional families so she created this heart-warming story in their honor. She looked for real life inspiration in writing the story, she did such a wonderful job that I wondered while reading the book if it was based on her childhood, there is no indication that it did though. She did an absolutely wonderful job writing and illustrating this book.
Review Awards and Excerpts:
Critical Analysis:
I absolutely love this book, it is now one of my favorites. I love how the story begins with the arrival of their first child and it ends with their son living in the home with his own family after Meema and Marmee have passed away. It is a lovely heartwarming story about two woman who have raised wonderful children who are kind and thoughtful, two qualities any parent would want their child to have. When Meema and Marmee are approached by a rude neighbor they brush off her comments and don't go into any explanation with their children about why she is the way she is. They are able to brush off comments until Meema and Marmee are verbally attacked by this neighbor in front of all the other neighbors at their block party. It is at that moment that Meema and Marmee explain very simply to their children what their neighbors problem is. As Meema states, "She is full of fear, sweetie. She's afraid of what she cannot understand: she doesn't understand us." Marmee adds, "There seems to be no love in her heart, either." I love how they explain the situation to their children in a way that does not put the other person down or is unkind, it's very simple, something a child can really understand.
I really think the illustrations in this book are great, they are so colorful and the story and illustrations represent people of every size, shape and color and that is wonderful. I love how detailed the pictures are such as the kitchen pictures, it's so realistic. You can tell Patricia Polacco had fun drawing the illustrations for this book, they aren't perfect illustrations but they are fun to look at. I do not feel there were any huge stereotypes within this book as there is the potential for them. Many woman today choose not to wear dresses, Meema and Marmee are both in the medical field which I feel is pretty normal for woman who work in the medical field to not wear dresses, many woman don't wear them hanging out at the house either. I think Patricia Polacco did a wonderful job overall with the story and the illustrations.
Patricia Polacco saw a need for a children's book that features nontraditional families so she created this heart-warming story in their honor. She looked for real life inspiration in writing the story, she did such a wonderful job that I wondered while reading the book if it was based on her childhood, there is no indication that it did though. She did an absolutely wonderful job writing and illustrating this book.
Review Awards and Excerpts:
This gem of a book illustrates how love makes a family, even if it's not a traditional one. - School Library Journal
2010 ALA Rainbow Book List
2010 What’s New in Children’s Literature
2010 ALA Rainbow Book List
2010 What’s New in Children’s Literature
Connections:
- A book such as this one opens the door to have a conversation about tolerance and openness to how other people choose to live their lives. I would discuss what makes this family a good family. If it's an older group there is an opportunity to bring up Utah banning this book in school libraries and why children might think this is wrong. This sort of discussion would be for older children as they would have a better understanding of laws.
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