The Mother Who Made Me a Reader
and the mothers we love in literature
Happy Tuesday, book lovers!
Here are two favorite pictures of my mom. In the first picture she’s got a shovel in one hand and a feminist manifesto in the other (at least, that’s how I always envision this scene :). She may have just been dusting (nah).
The second picture is her as a senior in high school in 1972, “when not many girls had short hair,” and becoming Utah’s state debate champ. As you can imagine, she’s always been able to form a good counterargument for everything!
She married at 19, had twins at 20 (me and my brother), and delivered my sister at 21 (practically triplets)! We lived in untidy “squalor”1 (her words) as my dad was working and going to school and my mom was finishing her bachelor’s degree. She would go on to get her Master’s and eventually, her Doctorate. BIG RESPECT!
My mother LOVES reading. In our family, it was the way to all knowledge. I clearly remember once exclaiming, “how am I supposed to know that?!?”
She gasped and said, “YOU READ!”
We could very well have been discussing Winston Churchill, economic prosperity, or photosynthesis, but I swear I was no older than eleven.
And thus I learned: if I wanted to know something (or converse with her), I better open a book.
My mom would always rather read and learn than cook and clean. This has had a profound and important impact on me. I feel little guilt for leaving dishes in the sink or the floors unswept so I can grab moments to write. She was not big on guilt in general.
She was big on education. I once heard her say, in response to a young mother saying why go to school if I’m “just” going to stay home with kids?” My mother exasperatingly, said, “DO YOU WANT THEM TO BE MORONS?”
I covered my eyes and died in the seat next to her but now I find it hysterical. And um, right?!?!
My mom has always struggled with energy, which I just thought was normal. Coming home from school, I would run up the stairs to find her laying on her bed reading a book (a Hershey’s candy bar wrapper nearby). The t.v. was never on during the day - but there were stacks of books on the floor next to her bed which she would swap out weekly.
Here she is with my newborn baby Brynne in 2004. I’m not sure how much of The Bean Trees Brynne absorbed, but all of my children have sat and laid by my mother for hours of their lives listening to stories from books and “from her own mind.”
Books are my life, and I owe that to my angel mother :)2
Who taught you to read and love books?
I’m thinking of the women who do so much of this ordinary-extraordinary work - like teaching children to read, taking them to the library, reading stories in a rocking chair. Perhaps this is your nudge to give her a call, send a text or a handwritten letter.
And - I love you, Mom. What a lucky lucky duck!
Amy 💖
Last Mother’s Day I wrote about some of my most favorite mothers in literature…
Career Day:
I was at a middle school this week talking about what it’s like to be an author. Here’s what I know about that: evolve or die :) I’m going through a big transition stage on this front and it’s very difficult. The question I’ve had to seriously consider is, “do I keep going - or do something else?
School visits: Looking for a class visit? Let’s talk creativity, brain and books, resilience and story, the power of reading and writing…be in touch.
Summer Reading:
Hey! I have a PERFECT summer read for you…The McNifficents!
Every day, Lord Tennyson the Miniature Schnauzer does his very best to care for the six McNiff children and keep them from destroying their pink New England farmhouse—and the rest of the town for that matter. But when summer vacation brings the kids home together all day, his chaos-containing skills are put to the ultimate test.
You can get your copy wherever books are sold (she said like a traveling salesperson…) & at BOOKSHOP.ORG (which is a little cheaper than Amazon right now!)
And, after you read it, I’ll come to your school and talk about the book! I have the cutest miniature schnauzer stuffie that I bring everywhere I go, and it’s a big hit :)
The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖
Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽
The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!
“a very bad or dirty condition”
how Abraham Lincoln referred to his mother, and a term we like to tease my mother with
Those pictures are amazing Amy! Your mother was a force. My mom also taught me to love reading. When I was little I’d find her in her bedroom or study with a book, completely content. We traded books all my adult life. We were lucky.
What a lovely tribute to your mom! And this, especially: "My mom would always rather read and learn than cook and clean." We should all follow her example! And feel no guilt!