In Our Mothers' House

I think it's good to have books for LGBTQ and nontraditional families. This one, I thought, was a little too...picture perfect. And the reason why one family is the neighborhood dislikes the main family is never really addressed. I liked it, and I thought it was cute, but a little too ideal and

Show More

perfect.

Show Less

A great story that shows that non traditional family structures can be just as loving and supportive as traditional family structures. I would share this story when discussing differences in families and teaching acceptance to students.

A look at what really makes a family; love.

Two female partners adopt three children and raise them in their big home full of love. One neighbor looks down upon the couple but for the most part everyone is accepting. The children only see their mothers as people who love them and people who care for them so much that they will do anything

Show More

for their children.

Show Less

A lesbian couple raises three adopted children, and together the diverse crew make up a loving, nurturing family. A sweet story about another type of family capable of the same love and commitment as the traditional families we're used to seeing in books.

Being adopted has it's hardships. Being an adopted child of two lesbian women has even more hardships. This family is strong and the children are loved. Meema and Marmee love their children very much and go through hoops to make their lives great. By building a tree house, to making their own

Show More

Halloween costumes, and to coordinating a block party, these three children have a good life except for one thing. They want to be friends with the two children down the street, but their mother, Mrs. Lockner, looks down upon the families lifestyles and refuses to allow her children to participate in the fun activities the mothers have planned. Meema and Marmee give the children tons of love and affection to make up for this prejudice and the family continues to thrive.

Show Less

A story about a group of adopted siblings with same-sex parents (mothers) and their relationship with others in their neighborhood, particularly this one family whose children are blind to prejudice but whose mother is very intolerant and disapproving.

This book is excellent; it covers a range of

Show More

diversity and cultures in the neighborhood, and offers many scenes and instances where everyone works together and is tolerant of differences. It offers students a chance to see who benefits from acceptance and how intolerance can hurt the most innocent. I feel as though it is definitely read-aloud material, but I wonder if it would be accepted in schools with the controversial nature of the story.

Show Less

Two women, who are bestfriends and are in love, adopt three children and start their own family. Many neighbors and many friends from school support the women and their little family, except one neighbor, who is outraged. It does not phase the family however, they all love each other are are no

Show More

different then any other family.

Show Less

I liked this story. I really liked the illustrations of Mrs. Lockner’s facial expressions. This helped show the audience how judgmental she was of someone with two mothers. I also liked the dialogue between the three children and their mothers because it showed the extreme passion of love they

Show More

had for each other. The big idea is that it is okay to have two mothers because they both can still love and take care of their children just fine.

Show Less

I was pretty disappointed in this book. For one thing, it is just way too long. It would be better suited as a chapter book with pictures, because even though the illustrations are lovely, it was beyond the scope and attention capacity of my young children, and might be better suited to older

Show More

children. It was also a little too preachy. There was the sense that this book was there to defend lesbian families against those facing prejudice, giving it a very heavy-handed, didactic feel. The description of a happy family and some positive events and facing some prejudice were good aspects of the story. There was just a little too much of everything, leaving a preachy, unpleasant impression. While the effort to portray a happy family parented by lesbians is a welcome find, I would like to find a better example of such a book before sharing it with kids. It was a drag to read, and works against itself.

I wouldn't recommend this title to teachers or librarians for curriculum or programming, due to excessive length, preachiness, and heavy-handedness. A positive example or image is far more compelling than this approach.

Show Less

With three children, two mothers, and two cats, Marmee and Meema's house was always filled with joy and laughter. Holiday visits from the children's gnocchi-making Nonna, homemade costumes and family trick-or-treating at Halloween, and exciting block parties with their diverse neighbors, filled

Show More

their days with fun. Most of all, the care and attention of two very different mothers filled the children's lives with love.

In Our Mothers' House is a lovely book, written, according to the little biographical blurb at the back of the book, to fill a gap perceived by the author, when it came to family-oriented picture-books. The story, in which a Euro-American lesbian couple adopt and raise three diverse children - one African-American, one Asian-American, one Euro-American - offers a wonderfully supportive and positive depiction of a non-traditional family, and although there are a few disturbing incidents (one of the neighboring women doesn't approve of Marmee and Meema), the focus here is on love and community.

Beautifully told, and beautifully illustrated, this is one I would recommend especially to LGBT and interracial families, but also to anyone looking to highlight the beauty of diversity, and the common feelings and needs of all peoples, regardless of race or sexual orientation, for young readers. Thanks for alerting me to this one, Lisa!

Show Less

It's a picturebook, but the style of the language is such that it's not for little kids. It's more than just that there's a lot of words, which there is, it's that there's words like finial, and metaphorical ways of speaking that just don't read like a children's book to me. Not that it's not

Show More

perfectly appropriate for children, but you'll definitely have to read it to them.

It follows the life of a family from the first-born kid, who is telling this story as an adult, to her adulthood and marriage and children. You'll definitely want to vet this book before you read it to your kid. You may want to stop reading after the tea party scene. (No, not _that_ tea party.)

Otherwise, definitely worth the read for the subject matter, which is a family with two mothers and three adopted children. As you can probably tell from the cover. :)

Show Less

I really liked this book, but it is definitely something different for a children’s book. I liked the characters and the theme from this book a lot. The two main mothers of this story raised their adopted children to the best of their abilities; they both made sure they grew up to have a normal

Show More

childhood despite having two mothers. In our generation that we are living in now, depending on a person’s point of view, it is normal to possibly see children having two fathers or two mothers. The children in this story were happy with life because of the way their mothers raised them. I think the main theme from this story is acceptance. When they have the neighborhood carnival, it made me happy to see that all the other families stood up for them when they were being discriminated for being who they are. I think this message is important to send to children because they are the future and need to realize that as strange as it may be to see same sex parents, it’s becoming a norm in our society. Hopefully this book will spread that message to children reading this book.

Show Less

This story is an enjoyable read with its loving main characters of Marmee and Meema, a lesbian couple that adopts children from all over the world.

I liked this book because it deals with a controversial issue and addresses the opposing argument. There is a character in the story that does not

Show More

agree with the marriage of Marmee and Meema. According to the mothers, "she's afraid of what she cannot understand." The neighbor's disapproval is mentioned multiple times throughout the story, from trick or treating on Halloween to the neighborhood block party.I liked how the neighbor was included multiple times because it added a realistic element to the story. In a story about a lesbian couple directed for children, I was not expecting there to be a character that opposes the marriage. It was refreshing to read such a realistic event because it is something that happens every day. It would be a discredit to gay couples if the character of the neighbor had not been included and it appeared that everyone was completely accepting of the mothers. I also liked how the mothers handled the neighbor by brushing her off and saying she didn't understand. The mothers downplayed the hatred of the neighbor in an effective way.

Another reason I liked this story was that the family in this story is different than a normal family for a major reason, but besides the major reason they are the same as a typical family. Having two mothers is an obvious difference for a family, but Polacco states many times that the family was just like any other family. My favorite line was "what I loved most about our family was that we could all speak our hearts. We never measured words." I found that statement to be a powerful image of what a real family should do. The family that Marmee and Meema created was loving, accepting, and playful. Despite being different from a typical family, they were still able to raise children extremely well. I liked how this family was portrayed because it showed that families with gay parents are not all that different from any regular family.

The main idea of this story is the overwhelming power of love and how love has no limits. The love of a family transcends hateful neighbors and cruel judgments. There are many ways to define family, and no one example of a family is better than another.

Show Less

This book is a great book to use in a lesson on different types of families. This book is about a family with two moms. One of the children accounts what growing up in a house with two moms was like. The story while controversial to many it shows students that this is just one type of family and

Show More

there are many other types of families as well. It could also be a teaching tool for children who are in a family with two moms. The story could help those children see that there are other people who have the same type of family.

Show Less

This book portrays a family with two mothers and 3 adoptive children. It shows the love of a family bond, but also the struggles that come with having an open homosexual relationship. It makes people question what "family" really means, and what society views as "normal."

In Our Mothers' House is told in the view of an adopted daughter by a same sex couple. This book is good to let kids know that there is more than one kind of family and they love is love no matter who it comes from. Really good book that I would read to kids ages 3rd-6th grade.

This was an amazing book. I liked how the book covered the entire course of the family's life chronologically. This helped me, as the reader, to be fully engaged and feel part of the story. I was able to see the characters unfold and the different discrimination they experienced from their

Show More

neighbors during their lifetime being gay parents with adopted children. The illustrations aided the story as well. One of my favorite illustrations was of the tea party the daughters had and the mothers dressing up. These illustrations showed that even though the mothers didn't enjoy wearing dresses how they did it to make their children happen and fully engage in their lives. I would say the idea of this book is about perspectives on different types of families and how all different kinds of families can be successful.

Show Less

I loved the story of three adopted kids and their devoted moms. There's a lot of ground covered in this story, including the cranky old anti-gay neighbor, the loving atmosphere of this particular home, the fun of a block party and ultimately the aging and dying of one's parents. It's well-written,

Show More

but I have to confess that the illustrations don't do much for me. I can see how they are breezy and fun and I think Polacco does a nice job with facial expressions- but they are too messy for my taste, too unformed. But the story itself more than makes up for the pictures.

Show Less

I love the originality and diversity of this book. The author uses characters to make a family that is outside the norm. For example, the author uses homosexual mothers, with adopted African American, Asian, and red-headed children, with an Italian grandfather. I also love how most of the book is

Show More

about them all just simply being a big, happy family. The author does put in some conflict, which really adds a nice touch. For example, Mrs. Lockner came up to the mothers and yelled at them for being different. The reaction of the rest of their friends proves to readers that some people might not see things the way everyone else does, but that is okay. Everything is still okay as long as you are loved and cared for. This is a great way to show kids that to be different is to be normal, which is the overall message of the book. In the end, all families are the same.

Show Less

In Our Mothers' House is about two ladies rasing a house filled with children. They are different from average families with mommys and daddys. Instea, the children of the home have two mommies. This is a great book to read to children becuase there are some children who have two mommies or two

Show More

daddies. This book teaches those children and thier peers that it is okay to be different becuase eveyone is different on some way. I would recommend reading this book to any elementary school child becuase it teaches diversity.

Show Less

Wonderful story told from a young black girl that is adopted by two women; they also adopt a white girl and an Asian boy. Tons of culture and diversity! Great read to children to help them learn about different types of family dynamics.

A story about having two parents of the same sex.

I really liked this book for two reasons. First, I liked the point of view. The story is told from the oldest adopted daughter in first person. She was adopted into a homosexual household and is too young to understand the prejudice of her neighbors, the Lockners. I thought that this was a very

Show More

strong feature of the book, because to the daughter, her family is just like every other family in her school and on her block, she is unable to see any reason why her neighbor is so cruel to her mothers. Therefore, another feature that I loved in this book is the characters. From the very beginning you can feel the love that Marmee and Meema have for their children and each other. “What I loved the most about our family was that we could all speak our hearts”. This quote proves that although their household is not “normal” to neighbors like the Lockners, they have just as much if not more love and compassion for each other. I believe that the overall message of this book is to push readers to see that homosexual households are the same as heterosexual households and to accept each others differences no matter what they are.

Show Less