HITN is celebrating this Mother’s Day in a special way. Being a mom is a very hard job under the best of circumstances. But with the pandemic, when you have to work at home or outside the home and your children need help with their school work, and lots more attention, it has become far harder.
So we’ve taken the time to collect an assortment of books about moms for your kids AND a list of some interesting books for you. Many more children’s books for kids of all ages can be found in our other reading lists:
Living in Two Worlds and Books by Latina Authors
These books can be borrowed as e-books from your Public Library, or purchased on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or wherever you usually purchase your books online.
Enjoy!
FOR CHILDREN 8 AND UNDER
- “Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers”/”Love to Mamá”
by Pat Mora
This is a beautiful and celebratory collection, in which thirteen poets write with joy, humor, and love about the powerful bond between mothers, grandmothers, and children. These poets represent a wide spectrum of Latino voices, from award-winning authors to a 15-year-old new talent. They write passionately about their Puerto Rican, Cuban, Venezuelan, and Mexican American backgrounds and the undeniable influence of their mothers and grandmothers. Illustrated with exuberance by Ecuadorian artist Paula S. Barragán M., Love to Mamá is sure to be embraced and treasured by everyone who wants to recognize mothers as one of our universal role models.
-Amazon book summary - “Mama The Alien”/”Mama La extraterrestre”
by Rene Colato Lainez
When Mama s purse falls on the floor, Sofia gets a peek at Mama s old Resident Alien card and comes to the conclusion that Mama might be an alien from outer space. Sofia heads to the library to learn more about aliens. Some are small and some are tall. Some have four fingers on each hand and some have large, round eyes. Their skin can be gray or blue or green. But Mama looks like a human mother! Could she really be an alien? Sofia is still puzzling out this mystery when she sees an alien-looking Mama one night. It turns out Mama is doing a beauty treatment so she will look her best for her citizenship ceremony. That s when Sofia realizes that in English, an alien can be someone from another planet, and it can also be a person from another country. Just like Mama! Filled with imagination and humor, Mama the Alien/Mama la extraterrestre is a lighthearted immigration tale and a celebration of family, no matter where that family comes from. Even if it s outer space!”
-Amazon book summary - “I’ve Loved You Since Forever”
by Hoda Kotb
I’ve Loved You Since Forever is a celebratory and poetic testament to the timeless love felt between parent and child. This beautiful picture book is inspired by Today show co-anchor Hoda Kotb’s heartwarming adoption of her baby girl, Haley Joy. With Kotb’s lyrical text and stunning pictures by Suzie Mason, young ones and parents will want to snuggle up and read the pages of this book together, over and over again.
-Amazon book description - “Are You My Mother?”
by P.D. Eastman
A baby bird goes in search of his mother in this hilarious Beginner Book edited by Dr. Seuss. When a mother bird’s egg starts to jump, she hurries off to make sure she has something for her little one to eat. But as soon as she’s gone, out pops the baby bird. He immediately sets off to find his mother, but not knowing what she looks like makes it a challenge. The little hatchling is determined to find his mother, even after meeting a kitten, a hen, a dog, and a Snort. The timeless message of the bond between mother and child make P. D. Eastman’s Are You My Mother? a must for baby showers, beginning readers, and Mother’s Day.
FOR MOTHERS
These books were originally written in Spanish and are now available in the English translation.
- “Tentacle”
By Rita Indiana
Dominican author Rita Indiana’s latest English-language release, Tentacle, tells the story of the Caribbean in the 2020s and 2030s, following a series of catastrophic ecological phenomena.
-Book description courtesy of Bustle.com - “Like Water for Chocolate”
by Laura Esquirel
In this short novel that blends recipes with fiction, the de la Garza family must come to terms with its old and outdated traditions when its matriarch, Mama Elena, forbids her youngest daughter from marrying, and offers the hand of her eldest child to the girl’s suitor instead.
-Book description courtesy of Bustle.com - “Things We Lost in the Fire”
by Mariana Enriquez
A collection of short stories set in an unstable Argentina, Mariana Enríquez’s Things We Lost in the Fire brings together gripping tales of ordinary life under extraordinary pressure.
-Book description courtesy of Bustle.com - “Umami”
By Laia Jufresa
Years after losing her younger sister to an unexplained death, 12-year-old Ana reads Agatha Christie novels and gardens to move past her trauma. But Ana’s garden is about to unearth lots of secrets in her Mexico City neighbourhood, including the truth about her sister’s untimely death.
-Book description courtesy of Bustle.com - “People in the Room”
By Norah Lange
Previously known for being Jorge Luis Borges’ muse, Norah Lange is now recognized as a great Argentinian writer. Her first work translated into English, People in the Room, follows one, Buenos Aires voyeur as she makes up new lives and domestic situations for the three women who share the house across the street from hers.
-Book description courtesy of Bustle.com
