Bookmarked: Strong Women

Strong WomenBoard/Toddler

‘Mommy, Mama, and Me’
by Leslea Newman, illustrated by Carol Thompson
Baby goes through the day, from morning hair brushing to the last kiss at bed time, encircled by the love of Mommy and Mama. Filled with wonderfully expressive faces, vibrant colors and rhyming text, this book shows the warmth of parental love in all its forms.

‘I Love You, Too!’
by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
What mother can resist a gift from her child, whether it’s a leaf, a flower or even a bug? Young animal friends, including a young boy, enjoy the thrill of presenting small tokens of love to their mamas in this gentle book for mother and baby to share. With rhyming text, animals present their gifts to their grateful mothers, who in turn express their love of the gift and of the giver.

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Strong WomenPicture Books

‘My Mama Is a Mechanic’
by Doug Cenko
Mama is all things to her child in this book full of action and imagination. Mom becomes a surgeon when stitching up a well-loved teddy bear or a monster truck driver while playing toy cars with her child. “My Mama Is a Mechanic” is a great book for inspiring imaginative play while showing that there isn’t anything mom can’t do.

‘Mommy’s Khimar’
by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, illustrated by Ebony Glenn
Little girls will identify with this charming young child as she wears one of her mother’s beautiful yellow khimars and imagines herself a superhero with a yellow cape or a mama bird with golden wings. The main character is surrounded by loving parents and a supportive interfaith community in this celebration of Muslim traditions.

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Strong WomenYoung Readers

‘Mama Dug a Little Den’
by Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Steve Jenkins
Follow animal families around the globe and learn about all the ways that mothers make a home for their babies. This book includes an innovative book design, glorious cut-paper illustrations and informative sidebar details about each animal family—a great book to share with the budding naturalist in your home.

‘Home in the Woods’
by Eliza Wheeler
On first examination, I was struck by the juxtaposition of uncommonly lush watercolors overlying what appeared to be stark pen-and-ink drawings. Set during the Great Depression, the story begins with a simple and direct introduction to a little girl named Marvel, her mother and her seven siblings. Season by season, the book follows the family over the course of a year, as they survive, heal and even begin to thrive in this most unlikely of environments. “Home in the Woods” is a memoir, an adventure story, a history lesson and a tribute to a quietly resilient mother who brought her family through a time of grief and crisis with a sense of renewed hope, purpose and genuine happiness.

Bookmarked: Stories That Move You

Strong WomenMiddle Readers

‘The Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy’s Great Idea’
by Ann M. Martin, adapted and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
Raina Telgemeier adapts and illustrates this graphic-novel version of Ann M. Martin’s classic series “The Baby-Sitters Club.” Kristy’s mom, a divorced single parent of four, works hard but struggles to find help to watch her youngest son at times. This gives Kristy an idea. She decides to start a club of baby sitters to help out her mom and others in the community. The version is a great choice for fans of graphic novels, especially those who love Raina Telgemeier’s books.

‘Little Women’
by Louisa May Alcott
With the new movie adaptation available to watch, this is the perfect time to revisit this classic novel with your child. Follow the March sisters, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy, as they grow up together in Massachusetts during the time of the Civil War and beyond. As the girls grow into young women, their mother, whom they call Marmee, is a constant presence of wisdom, humor and support, no matter what the girls are going through.

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Strong WomenYoung Adults

‘The Promised Neverland, Book 1’
by Kaiu Shirai
This Japanese Manga series starts off with a seemingly idyllic orphanage, where the main cast is happy, supported and has a lot of friends. They are cared for by one loving and supportive caretaker, a young woman they all call Mom. However, after a series of startling discoveries, all is not how it seems at the orphanage, which is not actually an orphanage at all but something much, much darker. Now the main characters, Emma, Norman and Ray, must save themselves and their family of fellow orphans from a horrific fate in this suspenseful horror series.

‘The Rest of Us Just Live Here’
by Patrick Ness
Mikey lives in a regular American town and goes to a regular American high school (he thinks). He has a complicated relationship with his mom, a strong opinionated woman running for political office, and really just wants to figure out how to finish high school and move on with his life. But when the “indie” kids at the school start to get mixed up in what seems like a supernatural apocalyptic situation, Mikey and his friends feel even more left out of the world around them. A satire on dystopian young adult novels while also getting to the heart of the real teen experience, this book is full of humor, heart and bite.

Conni L. Strittmatter is the youth and family engagement manager at Baltimore County Public Library.

About Conni L. Strittmatter

Baltimore's Child is written by parents like you. Want to contribute? Email us at [email protected].

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