Happy Mother's Day to all the bookish and non-bookish mom's out there!
Allison and I decided to do a special blog dedicated to our moms and their favorite books. We have recorded their answers below, my (Maggie's) mom's answers will be in red and Allison's will be in purple.
What books are favorites for your mom? Share in the comments!
1. Favorite Book? Why?
There are so many. My all time favorites are the Little House series, with Little House in the Big Woods being my favorite. I love the books because they are about a little girl in a lifetime I have always been curious about and fascinated by. Adult book favorite is Gentle Rogue by Johanna Lindsey. It is a standard historical romance with the big, fierce hero that swears never to fall in love but does. I read it first in Spanish, then in English while in college. I went on to read almost all of her other books. James Mallory is still my dream man.
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I tends towards non-fiction books that contemplate life and place value on internal processing (she was a psych major after all!) Universal truths, new perspectives, and feel-good messages are my jam! (Allison insert haha) I like this book in particular because it talks about the different stages of self, woman-hood, relationships, etc., and every time I revisit it, I gain new wisdom and insight.
2. Favorite Trope?
Woman has to pretend to be man to do what she wants and wins over the man in the end (apparently the disguised in drag trope - Maggie)
I described her favorite trope as “fated, and everyone can see they belong together, but they resist until they can’t any longer.” Picture the movies When Harry Met Sally or Fool’s Gold. (I would maybe call it a little of “will they/won’t they” with a healthy dose of “they’re the last ones to know.” ;) - Allison)
3. Favorite Book to read/give to children?
The Monster at the End of This Book hands down. It is a great read-aloud book because you can do so much emoting as Grover. (Maggie would like to confirm this book is shared a lot). I give this book out as gifts a lot to people I know with or having kids.
I was a preschool teacher and early childhood educator, so choosing just one favorite kids book was a struggle! One of the books that stuck out the most when I was creating lessons was an old classic: Fortunately by Remy Charlip. The alternating language, the bright colors juxtaposed with the black-and-white imagery, and the repetitive structure meant that kids could follow along during circle time and catch on to what would happen next. This helped them get super excited and had them creating fortunately/unfortunately situations of their own! (She would also like me to add that if you are looking for another crowd-pleasing classic, try Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. When it clicks in kids’ brains that the monkeys are copying the hat salesman, the kiddos go wild! -Allison)
4. A book to recommend to others.
Depends on what they are looking for, I am more likely to recommend an author than a book.
Children - The Monster at the End of This book
Romance - Gentle Rouge
Sci-Fi - The DragonLance series
History - Devil in the White City
If I have to pick one book, I guess it would be The Other Wes Moore. It is a great statement on society.
My favorite book, Gift from the Sea, (obviously. ;)) I also remember liking Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, so I would recommend that one.
5. Person who influenced them to read. My mother. She was always reading when I was growing up. I learned from her and tried to teach my kids the same love of reading. (Maggie would also like to confirm that her grandma will reads a lot and we have discussed books at length before).
My mom remembers her brothers reading all the time, especially my Uncle Bill and my Uncle John (who she borrowed the Bach book from!). Her mom always read periodicals and magazines, too. She credits her mom, my grandma, for her prioritizing reading in the morning. To this day, if Tina reads at night, she will fall asleep with the book on her face after only one paragraph!
Comments