My Picks for the BEST BOOKS for Mother's Day Review

1. My mom fell and fractured her knee. I was with her in rehab on Valentine's Day. Remembering Love You Forever from my days as a Social Worker I decided to buy her this 15- page paperback.

Although Love You Forever can be found in the children's section it was just so perfect for my mom at this particular time in her life. The book was written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Sheila McGraw.

The illustrations are wonderful. The book wouldn't be what it is if not for McGraw's illustrations which appear opposite every page and illustrate what the text is saying.

This is a simple but touching book (My mom cried which I knew she would.) starting out with a mother holding her new baby. The book is with a mother and boy. I didn't change he to she. I wanted to leave it just as it is. The lines (chorus) that get repeated are

"I'll love you forever
I'll like you for always
As long as I'm living
My baby you'll be"

The little boy crawls, grows up, goes to school, gets into trouble, drives his mom crazy and eventually leaves home. Mom still sings him the chorus. The book ends (This isn't a mystery!) with the boy picking up his elderly mom, rocking her and singing the chorus and finally we see the boy/man going home to his own child and singing the chorus.
You can find this at www.amazon.com in the $5.00 range.

2. If you are a mother and have a daughter or a daughter with a mom who would write journal type entries, I urge you to buy To My Daughter, with Love... A Mother's Memory Book by Donna Green. I put "Mother" in quotes because this can be given to anyone who was like a mother to you - a sister, aunt, grandparents, etc. If you are disciplined enough to keep a journal that you are saving for your children, then you won't need this, but few people really are. A friend of mine had this and when I saw it I had to have two of them, for for each daughter.

Donna Green is the illustrator also and in this book are reproductions of her oil-on-canvas works. She also has created floral illustrations and sketches of cut-work lace just for this book.

This book was written in 1993 and has 3 sections: About My Mother; About Myself; About My Daughter.This book is not meant to be written in one or two sittings. It is a work in progress, meant to be done over time.

Green starts the book by writing, "This is a journal about you and me, mother an dghter. It's my gift to you. I've filled it with love and the important recollections of a lifetime to help you understand who I am and why you've become the special person you are......It's the bright shining pennies of our life together that I've written about."

Remember that each page is beautiful. Not only are there pictures but there are quotes on each page and sometimes a whole page of quotes, one of which is "You must do the thing you think you cannot do" Eleanor Roosevelt.

I'll give you a taste of one section: About Myself is 21 pages of text, quotes, pictures, questions to fill in the blanks and a place to put your favorite childhood picture. When I Was Young (my earliest recollections, my most embarrassing moment); My Home Town (our street, where we worshipped); School Days (how I got to school when I was little, my first school friend); After School (my favorite toy; my warmest childhood memory); Daydreams (i could spend hours just thinking about); My Room (the view, I loved collecting); Dear Diary (my deepest darkest secret); Boys (my first date, what I learned that I'd like you to know); Sometimes It's The Little Things (my first kiss, my first car, my worst story); My Passions (my favorite book, flower, season); Wonderful Words (a page to write a passage or whatever written words have meant the most to you); Love Conquers All (how I met your father); My Wedding (where we were married); Then There Was You (my mother's reaction, who you resembled).

My one criticism of this book is that it is very Ozzie and Harriet like. Given the number of single parents and the number of children who don't get married or who opt not to have a wedding, perhaps a book will come out (or already has) that is more progressive in that way. But I still feel that this can be adapted to whatever lifestyle you and you daughter are living.

3. Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Hearts and Rekindle the Spirits of Mothers (Chicken Soup for the Soul) (Paperback 1997) is the one I have at home. There is also a Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother's Soul as well as others you may like. A 2007 Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul, 2007 is also listed at www.amazon.com.

What I don't like about the Chicken Soup books which includes the Mother's Soul book is that I don't think I've ever read every entry. I've skimmed through it and enjoy most of the contributions. If you aren't familiar with these books they were co-created by Jack Canfield with Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Hawthorne, and Marci Shimoff. Contributors to 101 Stories to Open the Hearta and Rekindle the Spirits include Barbara Bush, Reba McIntire, Erma Bombeck, and Joan Rivers; however regular people just like you and me can send your stories to the website. I like the ones by daughters like me though every now and one I'll find a celebrity piece to which I can identify. This is selling on amazon for around $10.00.

If the person to whom I was giving a Mother's Day book was a Chicken Soup lover then certainly buying Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul: 101 Stories is a great idea. Personally I would recommend teaming this book up with either numbers 1 or 2.

4. I read My Mother/My Self: The Daughter's Search for Identity by Nancy French is an oldie but goodie. I read it years ago and it is still on my shelf. This books isn't for everyone. I wouldn't give it to my mom because she doesn't read. Her eyesight isn't that good nor is her ability to process this book which requires a lot of thought.

It came out in 1997. Although I'm not at home in Massachusetts the book made such an impression on me that I still remember it.

French presents interviews from woman and her own experiences trying to understand her relationshi with her own mother. This line from www.amazon.com sums up the book so well that I have to guote it "....reveals the conflicting feelings of anger, hate, and love the daughter's hold for their mothers-and why they so often "become" that mother themselves."
Those of us who are moms I know hear ourselves saying something like "There are starving children in China" and wonder how that came out of our mouths.