With Mother's Day just around the corner, there's no sweeter gift than a child's pure and adoring love. That most wondrous of loves is the subject of Margaret Park Bridges's delightful new book, If I Were Your Mother.
In this enchanting story, a little girl offers her own imaginative version of what she might do if their roles were reversed and she was her mother's mother. In her fanciful world, the little girl, as the pretend mother, would serve breakfast in bed on a silver tray, and take her little girl to work to dance on her desk, and spin her around until she was all dizzy.
The real mommy just smiles and agrees as the little girl imagines curling her little girl's hair, making up her face, and painting her fingernails just so she could look silly. Taking a bath with a school of goldfish and having a nap in grandma's soft furry coat (with her legs in the sleeves) are highlights of the day the little girl has planned.
But the little girl soon begins to see that the most precious things in life a simple kiss on the forehead, an ear to whisper in, a warm, secure place in her mommy's lap are always ready and waiting just when she needs them most.
Parents and children alike will adore the wistful, fanciful imaginings of the little girl, and the marvelous wisdom of the mother. Margaret Park Bridges manages to touch the very pulse of motherly love in If I Were Your Mother, and the delightful illustrations by Kady MacDonald Denton, one of Canada's foremost illustrators, are warm and loving. As much an example for parents as an entertaining tale for children, If I Were Your Mother is a thoroughly enchanting lesson in pure love and would make a charming Mother's Day present for mommies everywhere.
Sharon Galligar Chance is a book reviewer for the Times Record News in Wichita Falls, Texas.
