Review of When Mama Grows with Me by Rebecca Wenrich Wheeler

Last week I posted a guest post by Rebecca Wenrich Wheeler on fostering empathy through books. Now I’m back to share my review of her picture book, When Mama Grows with Me.

What’s this book about? It is near the end of the first paragraph. “Waiting is growing.”

In this book, a mother and son plant seeds and wait for spring to replant the seedlings outdoors. Then they have to wait for the flowers.

So much waiting!

As they wait, they observe the seeds and tiny sprouts. They notice the frogs and the birds who would eat the plants if not for the protective greenhouse.

And they also move and stretch. One yoga pose mimics a seed waiting in the earth. Another duplicates soaring birds, eyeing the ground in search of a tasty treat. The motion of bats wings and also the wings of moths and butterflies at rest. The boy and his mother are not only observant of but participants in the natural world around them.

This book has so much to appreciate! As a boy-mom, I was also dismayed by the numbers of books about daughters and their mothers but there were far fewer about sons and their mothers. Although boys can be seen gardening in picture books, I think that many of us still have the idea that yoga appeals to women and girls more than it does to men and boys. But the boy in this book moves into natural poses even when mom is not present; he is present in both his own body and the natural world.

The black outlines and deep colors of Katherine Jordan’s illustrations call to mind stained glass but also the amazing colors to be found in the natural world. They compliment the depth of the story and add luminous detail.

Share this with the young readers in your life! Check out more stops on this blog tour. You’ll find the calendar below.

–SueBE