My Mommy Hung the Moon. Do book titles get any better that?
The only thing better would be if your kid actually uttered those five validating words… and meant it.
Lucky for me, my child actually does… sometimes… when she’s well-rested, well-fed, and I’ve just played Guess Who? with her for the bazillionth time and agreed to endure combat “just one more little time, Mommy, please, please, please!”
Okay, so the words, “My mommy hung the moon,” have never passed her lips, but when the stars are aligned just right, the sentiment is there, and she is not afraid to let the world know how much she loves me.
Being on the receiving end of pure, unadulterated, unconditional 6-year-old love—nothing is more rewarding.
Let’s face it; most of the work that moms accomplish in a single day to keep their children healthy, happy and thriving goes unnoticed, unappreciated, unacknowledged, unvalued, unsung and every other “un” word out there. But that comes with the job. After all, no one said motherhood was going to be a gratitude-fest.
Then, My Mommy Hung the Moon comes out, and the sweet smell of validation comes wafting in.
The best-selling children’s picture book is penned by a mom (of course), actually, a very famous mom. Actress turned author Jamie Lee Curtis puts moms in the spotlight in her ninth book: My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story.
Illustrated by Laura Cornell and published by HarperCollins, the book contains 40 colorful pages celebrating the awesomeness of M-O-M with sweet singsong passages, such as:
My mommy hung the moon.
She tied it with string.
My mommy’s good at EVERYTHING.
My daughter’s favorite page reads:
She buzzed every bee.
She spun every spider.
She growled every bear.
She striped every tiger.
My daughter is fond of telling strangers that her mom is “90 percent wise owl and 10 percent angry mama bear” (she stole the line from some TV commercial), so the book’s bear reference really hit home for her.
I responded the same way about the page that read:
She lit up the sun,
so bright and so round.
She puffed out each cloud,
stretched trees from the ground.
Coupled with Cornell’s lovely watercolor drawings, the aforementioned lines take on an enchanting, dreamlike tone that mimics the inner workings of a child’s mind. The perception that mommy really can do anything and everything, from carpooling and baking cookies to hanging the moon and lighting the stars is not far-fetched in Curtis’ magical tale.
The book is chock-full of silly rhymes, though some seemed a bit forced, such as:
She feathered the birds.
She taught them to chirp.
She taught me to speak,
my cousin to burp.
She zaps out the thunder and makes lightning glow,
then crayons for me a giant rainbow.
Still, if you are looking for a way to show your mom how much you appreciate all that she does, then you might consider saying it with Curtis’ book. My Mommy Hung the Moon makes the perfect gift to give mom on her birthday, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, Christmas, or any time you think she could use a little validation—-which is basically… now.
After all, as Curtis aptly puts it: “That imprint between a mother and a baby is the most important relationship you will ever have in your life.”
My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story is available at major book stores and online at HarperCollins.com.
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