Moms are known for being to do it all. They pick us up when we’re at our worst and celebrate with us at our best. They stock their pantry for us to shop in, and they carry a pharmacy in their purse, and they don’t say anything when we put our teen idol posters on the bedroom walls they painted just for us. We don’t always stop and say thank you for putting up with us and our music for all those years.
But author Olivia Roberts has taken the time to write her gratitude in a series of short lyrical poems about modern life and mother-child relationships. With humor and heart, she opens up about some of her own life’s moments, like when she played Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” for a week on repeat. (She realizes now that her life was not, in fact, all that complicated.)
These bursts of poetic emotion are made for quick reading. Your mom can sit and read one or two, or they can breeze through the entire book at once. There are also some accompanying illustrations, colorful and with a bit of whimsy.
Mom, Can I Do My Laundry at Your House? could work well as a Mother’s Day gift, or just as a thank you to your mom for everything she does. I’d pair it with something—some flowers or a tasty treat—but there are some laugh-out-loud moments in this book. But it’s a very short book, and some of the pages are a little sparse. I do wish that there were more illustrations or even some photos added in for more depth.
I think the biggest issue readers might have with this book is that it’s made for a specific type of parent-child relationship. Basically, for a happy relationship. There are a lot of people out there who have a more complicated relationship with their parents, and this book is a little oversimplified for anyone with ambivalent feelings about their childhood. So I wish it were more inclusive, but for those who have the same parental relationship that Roberts has, then this book would be a great gift.
Egalleys for Mom, Can I Do My Laundry at Your House? were provided by Chronicle Books through Edelweiss, with many thanks.
