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Display: Books with Great Mothers

In honor of Mother's Day last Sunday, here is a display of children's books that have great mother characters.



By Louisa May Alcott
Signet Classic, 1868. Fiction. 456 p.
The lives and adventures of the four March sisters--Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy--are set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century New England while their father is off fighting in the Civil War.

By Wilson Rawls
Doubleday, 1960. Fiction. 212
Set against the background of the Ozark Mountains, this is the story of a young farm boy and how he trains his two coon hounds to achieve fame for their hunting and trapping.

By Sydney Taylor
Dell, 1989. Fiction. 188 p.
Five sisters growing up in a Jewish family in New York in the early twentieth century search for hidden buttons while dusting Mama's front parlor, or explore the basement warehouse of Papa's peddler's shop on rainy days. The five girls enjoy doing everything together, especially when it involves holidays and surprises. But no one could have prepared them for the biggest surprise of all!

By Madeleine L’Engle
Farrar Straus Giroux, 1962. Newbery. 262p.
Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.

By Jeanette Winterson
Bloomsbury, 2009. Fiction. 387 p.
A magus kidnaps a boy named Jack to help him turn London into a city of gold, but Jack instead embarks on a magical adventure to save the city, release a dragon and set free seven other kidnapped boys.


By J. K. Rowling
A.A. Levine Books, 1998. Fiction. 309 p.
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches.

By Patricia MacLachlan
Harper & Row, 1985. Newbery. 58 p.
When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.

By Jack Gantos
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1998. Fiction. 176 p.
To the constant disappointment of his mother and his teachers, Joey has trouble paying attention or controlling his mood swings when his prescription meds wear off and he starts getting worked up and acting wired.

By Beverly Cleary
Harper Trophy, 2006. Fiction. 190 p.
Ramona at 7 1/2 sometimes feels discriminated against by being the youngest in the family.

By Laura Ingalls Wilder
Harper, 1953. Fiction. 237 p.
A year in the life of two young girls growing up on the Wisconsin frontier, as they help their mother with the daily chores, enjoy their father's stories and singing, and share special occasions when they get together with relatives or neighbors.
 

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