Mama's Milk Review

Mama's Milk
by Michael Elsohn Ross; illustrated by Ashley Wolff

Us gals put the Ma'am in mammals, and this book revels in the milk of human kindness--and all the other milks too. From kittens to whales and even armadillos, mamas work miracles with our mammaries.

In simple couplets, Ross walks us through many types of mammal mamas as they do what comes naturally, interspersed with glimpses of us human critters with our hungry pups. Wolff puts us lactating ladies in soft focus with gouache illustrations that remain tasteful for all their explicitness.

I'm a little envious of bears, who get to hibernate through the whole thing, but grateful I'm not a platypus, whose puggles (!) must lick milk from patches on her belly. Wow, does that look awkward.

Oh, stop squirming. Honestly. Kids have a natural curiosity about breast feeding (I know, I'm still at it with kidlet #2) and are considerably more mature than some grown-ups. I've never had weird stares and awkward confrontations like some Mommies I know, but horror stories abound of women kicked off airplanes, even.

This book isn't going to change any minds or raise an adult consciousness, but it should satisfy kids' goofier questions with some odd factoids, like kangaroos producing pink milk. Who knew?