After reading GOODNIGHT MOON to my son for the thousandth time, it dawned on me that I have suddenly made a significant character shift in Margaret Wise Brown's beloved classic picture book.
I have become "the quiet old lady whispering hush."
No longer am I the bunny who will not go to sleep!
When and how did this happen? Oh sure, I know it "officially" occurred when my son was born, but when did the change happen in my heart?
This got me to thinking about all of the other children's stories in my life that have famous "motherly" figures in them, and, without thinking, I decided to test my theory and choose characters I could currently relate to the most from a sampling of these books.
To my amazement, I always chose the mothers (or the motherly figure).
Mrs. Mallard in Robert McCloskey's MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS, Mama Monkey in Eileen Christelow's FIVE LITTLE MONKEY'S JUMPING ON THE BED, Miss Clavel in Ludwig Bemelmans' MADELINE, Baba in Jan Brett's THE MITTEN, Mama Cat in Judy West's HAVE YOU GOT MY PURR? (not a classic, but one of Little Scribe's favorite's) even the Man With the Yellow Hat in H.A. Rey's CURIOUS GEORGE AND THE ROCKET. These are just a few of the characters that have moved into my neighborhood.
And of course, my all time favorite--Marmee in Louisa May Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN.
I have officially joined the ranks of literary mothers.
Should I feel sad about this?
Surprisingly, I feel more of a sense of accumulation than of loss, because a part of me will always be that feisty little bunny in GOODNIGHT MOON, not wanting to fall asleep and miss out on all the fun...or George blasting off into space...or Madeline recooperating in the hospital with flowers, candy, and her friends surrounding her bed...or Jo yearning for adventure and scribbling away in the middle of the night...
Maybe that's what defines mothers who are also children's writers. We refuse to let go of both our ducklings and our bunnies, all the while still jumping on the bed!
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