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A thread as Mother's Day approaches: favorite mothers in books.
Add yours!
Let's start with Mrs Beaver, with her sewing machine and gloriously sticky marmalade roll. She's affectionate, loyal, clearsighted, and protects those she loves.
This is what hospitality looks like.
Add yours!
Let's start with Mrs Beaver, with her sewing machine and gloriously sticky marmalade roll. She's affectionate, loyal, clearsighted, and protects those she loves.
This is what hospitality looks like.
Feelings of solidarity for Mrs Tabitha Twitchit: "What a thing it is to have an unruly family!”
And next is General Anna in The Pushcart War, so motherly, so determined, and so effective.
Also, "By Hand”
Also, "By Hand”
Honoria Lucasta - this one is for @ginadalfonzo
"My dear child, you can give it a long name if you like, but I'm an old-fashioned woman and I call it mother-wit, and it's so rare for a man to have it that if he does you write a book about him and call him Sherlock Holmes."
"My dear child, you can give it a long name if you like, but I'm an old-fashioned woman and I call it mother-wit, and it's so rare for a man to have it that if he does you write a book about him and call him Sherlock Holmes."
And as anyone who spent ages 8 - 12 wishing they lived on Prince Edward Island will agree: Marilla.
This one is for @NorannV, or "Noranne with an E" as she was known for the relevant years.
This one is for @NorannV, or "Noranne with an E" as she was known for the relevant years.
The mother in Swallows and Amazons: “Better drowned than duffers, if not duffers won't drown.”
(Never quite sure what to make of her lighthearted attitude towards the wellbeing of her children, but on the other hand the Swallows had a terrific summer, so.)
(Never quite sure what to make of her lighthearted attitude towards the wellbeing of her children, but on the other hand the Swallows had a terrific summer, so.)
Next comes Mrs Bennet, who I am increasingly fond of. Notice that it is her wishes that have come true (mostly) by the end of the book. All she is striving for is the continuance of the human race.
This one is for @KSPrior and @HaleyCarrots
This one is for @KSPrior and @HaleyCarrots
Not to be forgotten: Babar’s Queen Celeste
I mean look at this.
I mean look at this.
Fun-loving Sister Gabriel in Twenty and Ten (Claire Huchet Bishop) not only cares for twenty children during wartime but inspires them to heroic daring, outwits the Nazis, and saves the lives of ten Jewish children.
This was a book that I reread constantly.
This was a book that I reread constantly.
The Country Bunny and the Little Golden Shoes, who was "not only wise, and kind, and swift, but also the bravest of all the bunnies."
(I was badly intimidated by this picture of her effortlessly handling 21 newborns when I was figuring out how to care for our first baby.)
(I was badly intimidated by this picture of her effortlessly handling 21 newborns when I was figuring out how to care for our first baby.)
The wonderful Mother in The Railway Children (Edith Nesbitt) who "had the power of silent sympathy.... she is able to know that you are unhappy, and to love you extra on that account, without bothering you by telling you all the time how sorry she is for you."
Mrs Murray in A Wrinkle in Time, gets honorable mention for knowing how to deal with awkward teenage daughters.
This one is for @joynessthebrave and @CaitrinKeiper
This one is for @joynessthebrave and @CaitrinKeiper
And finally, Janet in "Sir Gibbie"
"She was a mother. One who is mother only to her own children is not a mother; she is only a woman who has borne children. But here was one of God’s mothers."
This one is for my mom.
"She was a mother. One who is mother only to her own children is not a mother; she is only a woman who has borne children. But here was one of God’s mothers."
This one is for my mom.
