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Where's Mom?
Three children imagine their mother as the heroine in their favorite bedtime stories
- GenresPicture BooksChildrens
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Libby Gleeson
63 books38 followers"I was born in Young, a small town in south western NSW in 1950. After a few years we moved to Glen Innes, on the northern tablelands and then when I was ten we moved out west to Dubbo. We moved because my father was a schoolteacher and each change meant a promotion for him.
There were six children in the family. I was number three and there wasn't a lot of money. We didn't have television and of course there was no such thing as a computer.
Books and reading were hugely important. I remember going to the library on a Saturday morning and borrowing five or six books and reading them all by Sunday night.
When I finished High School I studied at the University of Sydney. I had a great time studying mainly history but also getting involved in lots of things happening at the University and the city. It was the time of the anti-Vietnam war protests and the rise of the Women's Movement.
I taught for two years in a small town, Picton, which is just outside of Sydney. I really enjoyed that time but I wanted to travel and in 1976 I headed off for five years. I based myself first in Italy where I taught English and then in London where I started writing my first novel, Eleanor, Elizabeth. I attended a creative writing group where the other students pushed me to write a better book. In London I also met my husband. We came back to Sydney in 1980. We've got three daughters.
When we first came back I taught at the University of NSW but now I write full-time. I've written thirty books and I've also taught occasional courses in creative writing and I've visited lots of schools to talk about my work.
I write picture books, novels for young kids and also novels for slightly older readers. I've done a book about writing and also a small amount of writing for television: Bananas in Pyjamas and Magic Mountain.
The writer's life is pretty good. It's a job where you work for yourself, in your daggy track suit, at times that suit you. What more could you ask for?"
from: http://www.libbygleeson.com.au/biogra...
There were six children in the family. I was number three and there wasn't a lot of money. We didn't have television and of course there was no such thing as a computer.
Books and reading were hugely important. I remember going to the library on a Saturday morning and borrowing five or six books and reading them all by Sunday night.
When I finished High School I studied at the University of Sydney. I had a great time studying mainly history but also getting involved in lots of things happening at the University and the city. It was the time of the anti-Vietnam war protests and the rise of the Women's Movement.
I taught for two years in a small town, Picton, which is just outside of Sydney. I really enjoyed that time but I wanted to travel and in 1976 I headed off for five years. I based myself first in Italy where I taught English and then in London where I started writing my first novel, Eleanor, Elizabeth. I attended a creative writing group where the other students pushed me to write a better book. In London I also met my husband. We came back to Sydney in 1980. We've got three daughters.
When we first came back I taught at the University of NSW but now I write full-time. I've written thirty books and I've also taught occasional courses in creative writing and I've visited lots of schools to talk about my work.
I write picture books, novels for young kids and also novels for slightly older readers. I've done a book about writing and also a small amount of writing for television: Bananas in Pyjamas and Magic Mountain.
The writer's life is pretty good. It's a job where you work for yourself, in your daggy track suit, at times that suit you. What more could you ask for?"
from: http://www.libbygleeson.com.au/biogra...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 1, 2012
This is a great book about waiting for mum to come home from work. Have to find it in the bookshelf to re read to the kids.
June 30, 2018
Dad is picking up the kids from school and they are sure Mum will beat them home but she doesn't. They speculate about what could have held her up with a twist at the end.
I love the chaos and warmth of the pictures in this book. Like most good children's books the illustrator is at least as important as the writer. The Dad is beautifully portrayed with a "soft masculinity" that is emotionally very strong even as he has a pastel shirt and the pure chaos of three children unfolds around him. Dad tries (vainly) to clean up a house that is as messy as mine on a bad day, maybe even worse. The children are help themselves to things from the fridge and make it harder (this is all pictured subtext while they speculate about mum).
A minor gripe is how thin Mum is compared to the other characters, but she is a heroic figure in her work-clothes initially waiting at the bus-stop but then drawn into wilder and wilder imagination in the minds of her family. When we see her face closer up we realise she has some marks of aging (as does Dad) which is refreshing to see.
I had mixed feelings about the ending. Dad being THAT perfect to me was a bit over the top and almost works as a "men's rights" text-of-terror. Apart from possibly portraying the irrational fear of many men that I have met I felt that Dad had worked really hard throughout the whole book doing the "Mummy shift" and like any Mum in that situation deserved a happier more restful ending himself. Of course in reality Mums generally don't get that rest when they deserve it and in this imaginary scenario Dad doesn't either.
Even keeping the last page but adding a picture as a post-script (the way some writers like Bob Graham do) where dad is relaxing in the spa with a glass of bubbly or watching TV or something would make the last page part of the fun.
But in any case this turns gender stereotypes on their heads and portrays families as messy, confusing but emotionally safe spaces of love and for that I give it five stars.
I love the chaos and warmth of the pictures in this book. Like most good children's books the illustrator is at least as important as the writer. The Dad is beautifully portrayed with a "soft masculinity" that is emotionally very strong even as he has a pastel shirt and the pure chaos of three children unfolds around him. Dad tries (vainly) to clean up a house that is as messy as mine on a bad day, maybe even worse. The children are help themselves to things from the fridge and make it harder (this is all pictured subtext while they speculate about mum).
A minor gripe is how thin Mum is compared to the other characters, but she is a heroic figure in her work-clothes initially waiting at the bus-stop but then drawn into wilder and wilder imagination in the minds of her family. When we see her face closer up we realise she has some marks of aging (as does Dad) which is refreshing to see.
I had mixed feelings about the ending. Dad being THAT perfect to me was a bit over the top and almost works as a "men's rights" text-of-terror. Apart from possibly portraying the irrational fear of many men that I have met I felt that Dad had worked really hard throughout the whole book doing the "Mummy shift" and like any Mum in that situation deserved a happier more restful ending himself. Of course in reality Mums generally don't get that rest when they deserve it and in this imaginary scenario Dad doesn't either.
Even keeping the last page but adding a picture as a post-script (the way some writers like Bob Graham do) where dad is relaxing in the spa with a glass of bubbly or watching TV or something would make the last page part of the fun.
But in any case this turns gender stereotypes on their heads and portrays families as messy, confusing but emotionally safe spaces of love and for that I give it five stars.
July 23, 2017
Really clever. Great to read a book about a working, communiting mum. It resonated with my four year old who was keen to read it a second time. Always a good sign!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews