MY MOTHER'S DELIGHTFUL DEATHS

A child describes life with an eccentric mother.

Mom is changeable and unpredictable. She can be “nice” or “nasty,” quiet or loud. She’s a true diva—really: an opera singer who plays many roles, sometimes varying from day to day. The unnamed narrator and younger sibling are comfortable with their family dynamics enough to dive into her costume collection and put on their own shows. Today they are going to see Mom’s premiere performance as the witch in Hansel and Gretel. In this opera, as in many of her other roles, Mom must die onstage, fully explaining the odd, possibly off-putting title while providing reassurance to young readers. Although the child knows it’s just pretend, the art depicts the child’s tears and worry, for it looks so real. Grown-ups in the audience also get caught up in the sadness—even Dad sheds a tear or two of his own. The child narrates in simple, declarative sentences, with additional dialogue bubbles and sounds emanating from Mom’s vocal cords—these are presented in varied typefaces that enlarge and enhance the action, all translated from German in this Swiss import. Elongated, exaggerated, often hilarious illustrations fill in the details in full- and double-page illustrations as well as vignettes of many shapes. The children completely accept that their mom is different from other mothers and never really doubt her love. In fact, to them she’s quite (if not entirely) normal, and they are immensely proud of her.

Quirky, unusual, and quite delightful.