My Mommy, My Mama, My Brother, and Me

I loved this story, it has some beautiful images and the story itself is lovely too. I love how it rhymes and it has a lovely flow to it too which will keep little ones engaged and interested. It is definitely five stars from me for this one!

I really enjoyed the rhythm of this book it combined with the illustrations perfectly. I cannot get enough of the illustrations; they are perfect for this book. It makes you want to go right out to the beach and see what you can find.

This is such a delightful story of a family exploring the beach with their neighbors. The two kids find so much they have questions about, and the people who know the beach well, are very willing to lend an ear and tell them a little about each thing the kids find. Such as the fused glass, or the sea urchin.

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/my-mommy-and-mama.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5184" />

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/my-mommy-my-mmma-my-brother.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5183" />

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/my-mama-my-mommy-my-brother-and-me.png" alt=""class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5178" />

The rhymes are easy on the ears. The pictures are sublime. And best of all, I didn't even notice that the two mamas were a lesbian couple, until I finally put two an two together, and realized what the book title meant. D'uh that it had two Moms in it. And no one in the town said a word or seemed to care.

The author said she based this on the love she received from the time that she and her wife lived there, and how warm everyone was.

Highly recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This was an absolutely delightful picture book about the joys of living in a small seaside community. The story is told in rhyme and there is a lovely repetition of the title as a refrain at the end of each short sequence. This is a totally gentle and loving story about family and the variations that this can have. The illustrations are delicate and very atmospheric, really adding to the sense of love and joy that the children are surrounded by. Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for allowing access to the book in return for a genuine review.

This is a beautiful book that checks quite a lot of boxes for me. The watercolor illustrations are gorgeous, the family is loving, it features a biracial lesbian family just as a matter of who they are, it deals with nature studies at the beach, it's told in lyrical rhyme, and the people are all friendly and kind. I did agree with another reviewer who was taken aback by the advice to take home the mermaid's purse (shark egg sac) and keep it in water to see what hatches. On the one hand, our family has done this sort of thing (temporarily, after thoroughly researching it and providing all that the creatures need, treating them gently, and then returning them to the wild). OTOH, the book doesn't say all that and I do agree that readers could end up bringing home wildlife irresponsibly. Vegetarians may also dislike the heavy focus on eating sea creatures -- there are fishermen and lobster men, the child is encouraged to eat a sea urchin they find (and does), and so on. The book takes place in a fishing village so it's to be expected that there's a high focus on ways to eat and otherwise use sea life, but that may not align with the values of all readers.

At the end of the book, the author notes that it's based on a true story and that she and her wife raised their young children for a few years in the Nova Scotia fishing village where she had grown up. It's wonderful to read that they were treated lovingly and like any other family.

All in all, this is an absolutely gorgeous and sweet little book that will be great for nature studies, read-alouds or bedtime. It would also be a great book to check out before traveling to the sea for the first time with children.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

A beautifully illustrated, easy level book on exploring the beach on a family outing and all the treasures - and people - one may encounter on the way. On a trip to the beach, with all the potential treasures available, which one would you take home to keep?

Contains the recurring refrain: "And these are the things we find by the sea. My mommy, my mama, my brother and me."

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Great book for kids getting ready to go on an adventure or vacation.