RICHARDS, Dawn (text) Jane Massey (illus.) My Mummy is Magic Random House, 2014 unpaged NZ$19.99 pbk ISBN 9780552569910
A sequel to My Dad’s a Hero, this picture book is very much a hyperbolic ode (without the metrical requirements) to motherhood. It is an ideal gift for Mother’s Day where the young child shares the book with mother as his/her gift. The illustrations support the notion of hyperbole (where Aladdin-like, Mum is taking the children on a magic carpet ride). And so parenthood is rightly praised. Praise poems as such are fine but I do worry that there is a degree of misleading here. All parents struggle with their young toddlers and it is not all ‘magic’. Indeed, this struggle with egocentricity (something about the terrible twosomes comes to mind) is a constant. However, let’s look at the bright side of things and enjoy how the illustrator has added considerable detail and depth to the words!
reviewed by John McKenzie