Just Like a Mama by Alice Faye DuncanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
JUST LIKE A MAMA
BY: ALICE FAYE DUNCAN
PUBLISHED BY: DENENE MILLNER BOOKS/ SIMON & SCHUSTER
YEARY: 2020
GRADES: P-3
AGE: 4+
Mommy and Daddy live miles away, I wish we lived together. Maybe one day that will be.P4
P5
Right away we have our introduction of characters in the first act. We have our narrator and a brief history of how she came to be with Mama Rose.
It is an interesting choice, I think, to not tell us where the parents are. It's possible the little girl doesn't know. At this point in the story the details of how our narrator came to be living with Mama Rose is not important. We know that this story is going to be about her and her relationship with Mama Rose.
P6
Just like a mama, she combs my hair.
P7
She buttons my winter coat.
P8
And when I leave for school, she waves and shouts from her front porch
“I love you, Lady!”
P9
Just like a mama, she teaches me things, like how to make my bed.
P10
And dribble a basketball.
P11
She bought me a watch when I turned five. She taught me to tell time.
P12
She bought me a bike when I turned six. It is yellow like the sun.
P13
In summer we ride to the city park. We listen to the blackbirds sing.
P14
Mama Rose tells me often “One day, child, when you grow up’ you will spread your wings and fly.”
This middle section is a cute.
I do appreciate how the author shows how long our main character has lived with Mama Rose with the
use of birthday presents. This also shows us the age of the character
I find myself wanting to rearrange or change words when I read it though.
For example I wish the writer had allowed “sing” to rhyme with “wing” on page fourteen and left off and fly”.
P15
My mother and father live far away. I wish we lived together. I wish that they were here.
P16
But I live with Mama Rose right now. She is just like a mama to me.
 |
| Author Alice Faye Duncan |
The full line repeat from the intro does two things to me. One it interrupts the flow of the story. Two it makes me wonder again where the parents are and who is Mama Rose. I start looking for clues to answer this question and speculating about the situation instead of enjoying how well Mama Rose is taking care of our narrator. I think it takes away from the theme of “I miss my family but I’m ok because Mama Rose is here”
Perhaps a different type of repetition would have worked better here? Maybe something like: “Mama Rose’s family lives far away. She wishes they lived together but they don’t. I am her family now. I’m just like a daughter to her.”
But anyway, with that repeat of the intro line we enter the third section of the story, what some call act three:
P17
Just like a mama, she wrinkles her nose and calls my name when I don’t eat my dinner. “Carol Olivia Clementine! Green peas are good for you!”
P18
“Yes, mama,” I say. I wrinkle my nose and go ahead and eat ‘em. Because there will be No chocolate cake until I eat my veggies.
P19
Sometimes I forget to make my bed.
My bedroom is a mess and Mama Rose is not pleased.
P20
Like a Mama, she points upstairs and yells, “Carol Olivia Clementine! You have chores to do!”
P21 – P22
I run along. I clean my room. I know it is not perfect. But I do my very best and Mama Rose sings my name. “Carol Olivia Clementine! You did a super job!”
We are in the third act before we see the narrator’s name. It might have been nice to have earlier on, but ok. Also writer waited til the third act to raise some conflict in the story, which isn’t uncommon but usually some narrative conflict occurs at the start of Act two, and by Three we are coming down from the climax.
I can hear you saying that this is not that kind of story. Ok, perhaps - but I think it could have been stronger if it had followed tha traditional blue print.
What do you think? Am I being nit-picky?
P23
My mother and father live far away. I wish we lived together. I wish that they were here. I live with Mama Rose right now. Mama Rose cares for me.
The triple repeat here pulls the whole story into question. Is she happy? I’m certain her parents are constantly on her mind and I’m certain it’s a sad situation. And it makes me sad for her even though I can’t relate to it personally.
But a third mention of the parents causes me to really want to know what happened here. and I’m sure that’s not the author’s intention. I believe empathy is the intention and perhaps trying to follow the rule of three. But I’m filled with all the wrong questions.
I believe this book is meant to be sort of a love letter to all the Mama Roses out there who step up and raise a child that isn’t their own because of various circumstances. If so then the triple repeat of this longing for her real parents pulls back from that. It feels like we are calling Mama Rose a temporary caregiver in the mind of her charge. She’s still just a substitute Mama as the little girl waits for her parents to come back.
P24
Mama Rose is a hug and a kiss.
P25
Mama Rose is a home.
P26
She loves me like a mama.
And I love . . . Mama Rose.
I love those last two three lines. I wanted more of that at the beginning.
MY TAKE
Super sweet concept but I don’t really enjoy the book as much as I want to. It’s a tender statement of love, a love letter to a caregiver who isn’t her mother, representation matters for adopted and fostered kids, or kids who are just experiencing a rough patch as their parents work through some things.
But the writing is kind of flat. I know it’s meant to have the kids vocabulary and the repetition is there . . . but there is no story.
It’s a conversation starter for sure. As a parent who is happily married (so far) and raising my daughter with her biological father I can see the usefulness of having a book like this to explain alternative families to my daughter. She’s much lighter than me and she might one day get picked on for it. But I can point to her white father to explain it. Carol has no one to point to and no explanations and she’s not alone in that.
It is a unique story. I appreciate that it’s uncommon to find a book that represents children like Carol without being sad and depressing. I just wanted more rhythm to the words, more bounce to the story. Not for it to rhyme just for the words to be as perky and hopeful as the girl telling the story.
RE-READ!
After reading this book out loud to my daughter my take on it has changed a little . As usual, the element of reading it aloud changed my perspective on the story.
I found myself wondering what will happen to my daughter if my husband and I were suddenly unable to raise her for some reason. As I read the story I became grateful for the Mama Rose character, and the other Mama Roses in the world who informally and officially adopt children whom they aren’t related to. They could easily have looked away and let the child slide into “The System”. I ended up having a tough conversation with my husband where upon we agreed that his youngest sister was the best one to take our daughter if something were to happen to us. Now I’m looking into how to go about putting that on a document someplace just in case it’s needed.
I’ll take advice on how to do such things if you have any in the comments below!
Reading it aloud to a child also made some of the rougher parts of the language make since. The basic vocabulary, the presentation of chores. My daughter is two and doesn’t have chores yet but she’s learning words and introducing such words to her is good. Also, she may not understand the concept of the story right now but seeing a light skinned daughter with her dark skinned Mama my two year old pointed to the picture and confirmed “Mama!” and that made me smile.
It also occurs to me that even if she is fortunate enough to grow up with two loving parents who support her . . . she’s bound to make friends who live in different situations. So what better way to teach empathy than through books with relatable characters in different circumstances?
Amazing how with a change of perspective I went from dismissing this book to loving it.
If you’d like to try this one out I picked it up at my local library! I have no claims on the copyright of this book but if you liked the story please purchase it and support the writer: Alice Faye Duncan
As usual my name is Porsche, if you like what my picture book breakdowns please read on. If you have comments or suggestions for more book on my list please let me know! I love hearing from people.
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