I’m thrilled to share a recent Perfect Picture Book as part of #ReadYourWorldDay 2025. Visit the website for a full list of event sponsors, activities, and featured books.
Title: Mama’s Love Language
Written By: Elisa Stad
Illustrated By: Ry Menson
Publisher/Date: Ginger Lotus Press/2023
Suitable for Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: multicultural families, self-acceptance, favorite foods, identity, belonging, expressions of love, cultural heritage
Opening:
My name is Jade. I live in two worlds. My mama is Chinese and my dad is American.
Who am I?
Brief Synopsis: Jade wants to be more like the other kids at school and struggles to understand her mother’s love and immigrant experiences.
Links to Resources:
· Prepare Hainan Chicken Rice, Jade’s favorite meal;
· Discover discussion questions for Mama’s Love Language;
· Ask your parents or grandparents about their lives at your age: where did they live? What did they eat? Did they have favorite childhood foods that your family still enjoys?
· How do you show friends or family members that you care about them? Draw a picture showing how you express love.
Why I Like this Book:
Every child needs to answer the question posed at the outset of Mama’s Love Language: who am I? But for a child who has a parent that doesn’t look or act like other parents, who may not look like other children in their class, or who, for whatever reason, feels different from classmates or one or more relatives, this is an extremely important question. Stad tackles this question and offers reassuring answers in Mama’s Love Language.
Young Jade shares many telling details about her life and self-perception: Mama doesn’t hug her like other parents hug their children; Mama focuses merely on food and homework; Jade imagines herself looking like her blond-haired, blue-eyed father, but the “mirror shows a different person” who doesn’t “match the other kids” in her class. I think many children can relate to these feelings!
Following an argument in which Jade asserts that she isn’t Chinese, Mama shares details of her life in Vietnam, including having to drop out of school to help support the family and living in a food insecure household. Afterwards, Jade realizes that Mama “shows love in her own way” – cooking hearty meals, supporting schoolwork, and other caring actions, and Jade embraces her Chinese heritage.
For children growing up in a family with a parent that similarly shows love through actions rather than hugs or saying “I love you,” Mama’s Love Language provides an important reminder that people express love in different ways. And for children who feel different than peers due to race, religion, cultural background, socioeconomic status, or anything else, Jade shows that having a family that’s different can be special.
Menson’s realistic illustrations in shades of yellow, peach, and turquoise complement Stad’s text and help the reader feel part of Jade’s story. I especially appreciate an early spread featuring Jade surrounded by symbols of her two worlds.
Mama’s Love Language is an award winner of The BookFest, and is a wonderful addition to school, home, and public library shelves.
A Note about Craft:
Stad, the daughter of a Vietnamese refugee mother and an American father, relates Jade’s story using present tense and first-person point-of-view. I think this combination helps readers empathize with Jade as we experience her life in real-time, from her point-of-view.
This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!
Wander, Ponder, Write 