Polacco,
Patricia. In our mothers' house. New York: Philomel Books, 2009.
9780399250767
Plot Summary: In Our
Mothers' House shares a story of two mothers who adopt three young
children. The women invite the children into their loving home, and the children
happily grow up into their diverse family setting. Eventually, the children
grow up, get married, and become parents. The two mothers are caring, funny,
and energetic even until their last days on earth.
Critical Analysis: In
Our Mothers' House is a beautifully written story about a diverse family.
The mothers, a homosexual couple, adopt three diverse children and share a
wonderful life together. The story is set in an urban, culturally diverse
neighborhood. While the main characters in the story are fully pleased with
their family situation, there is one family in the neighborhood that objects to
the marriage. This is the main conflict in this story, but it does not
overshadow the story’s message. The illustrations, done with pen and marker,
add life and excitement to the already beautifully written story. The main
cultural marker in this story is the marriage between the two women. The story
preaches love, acceptance, and the joy of diversity.
Reviews:
Booklist: The
oldest of three adopted children recalls her childhood with mothers Marmee and Meema, as they
raised their African American daughter, Asian American son, and Caucasian
daughter in a lively, supportive
neighborhood. Filled with recollections of family holidays, rituals, and
special moments, each memory reveals loving insight. At a school mother-daughter tea, for instance, the
mothers make their first ever
appearance in dresses. The narrator
recalls, “My heart still skips a beat when I think of the two of them trying so
hard to please us.” Only a crabby neighbor keeps her children away from their
family. Meema explains, “She’s afraid of what she cannot understand: she
doesn’t understand us.” The energetic illustrations in pencil and marker, though perhaps not as well-rendered as in some previous works, teem with
family activities and neighborhood festivity. Quieter moments radiate the love
the mothers feel for their
children and for each other. Similar in
spirit to the author’s Chicken Sunday, this portrait of a loving family
celebrates differences, too. Pair this with Arnold Adoff’s Black Is Brown Is
Tan (2002), Toyomi Igus’ Two Mrs. Gibsons (1996), or Natasha Wing’s Jalapeno
Bagels (1996) for portraits of family diversity.
Children’s
Literature: The family “in our
mothers’ house” is like many others, filled with love and fun, clearly seen in the smiling characters on the
jacket. It is unusual only in
that there are two mothers. The
narrator is the eldest of three adopted children. She tells the story of her
adoption and that of her brother Will and sister Millie. The children play,
sing, and dance together, catch the flu, and celebrate holidays with the
extended family. Only one neighbor seems to disapprove of the family at a big
block party where all others are accepting. The children grow up, marry, have
babies; their mothers die, but
their hearts remain at the house
where they found love. Polacco’s standard pencils and markers fill each
double-page scene with active, naturalistic children and adults amid details of
clothing, suburban environment, and household chaos. The illustrations make it
apparent that the children are genetically different, ranging from African
American and Asian American to Millie’s glowing red hair and pale skin. The
genuine humane good feeling is only made richer by the contrasting nastiness of
the neighbor. The lengthy text is a plea for the acceptance of one kind of the
changing American family.
Kirkus: The
placement of the title's possessive apostrophe here is no typo: Two mothers own this house, and they have filled it with
lots of love. Unfortunately, while this ambitious picture book seeks to offer
an inclusive vision of family, it ultimately comes up short. Meema and Marmee's
eldest daughter offers a sweeping narrative about three children embraced by
their loving, interracial, adoptive family and multicultural community, with
their "mothers' house" at the center of it all.
It is outside of this safe haven that the children face overt and neatly
contained homophobia in the
character of one bad apple, who declares, "I don't appreciate what you two
are!" The distillation of hate into a single character undermines the
reality of systematic oppression faced by same-sex couples; furthermore, the
flash-forward narration depicting each child grown and married into
heterosexual, monoracial unions ironically presents this family as an anomaly.
There is a desperate need for books that present queer families as just another
part of the American quilt, but this title, despite its obvious good
intentions, doesn't do it.
Awards:
Connections: This
book would make a great read aloud for older children. Children will learn to
appreciate the diversity of families and the importance of loving their
neighbors.
Check out the
following titles also about diverse families....
Alko,
Selina. I'm your peanut butter big brother. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 2009.
Bryan,
Jennifer, and Danamarie Hosler.The different dragon. Ridley Park, PA:
Two Lives Publ., 2006.
Parr,
Todd. The family book. New York: Little, Brown, 2003.
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