The Bottom Line
Pros
- Colorful and beautifully illustrated
- Entertaining enough to hold a child's interest
- Anticipates and addresses a child's most likely fears
- Relate-able butterfly metaphor for "Mommy's" transformation
- Simple enough that my first-grader could read it on his own
Cons
- Geared mostly toward girls. Though there is a little boy in the story, he seems "left out".
- Doesn't tackle deeper issues relating to appearance and self-esteem
- Glosses over the risks
Description
- My Beautiful Mommy takes a little girl with her mother to the plastic surgeon's office to witness her consultation.
- The little girl's questions about Mom's surgery are all carefully and cleverly answered.
- During Mom's recovery, the kids help out around the house to lighten Mom's load. I love this part!
- Mom is transformed into a beautiful butterfly and the little girl gets a special treat. And they lived happily ever after?
Guide Review - Book Review
Let me first say that I really do like this book, and I'm glad there is something out there like it. With today's reality-show and celebrity-obsessed culture, kids are being exposed to stories about plastic surgery, whether we like it or not. But when Mom (or Dad) decides to go under the knife, it's different. Kids have questions and concerns.
Dr. Salzhauer does a very good job of identifying and addressing what those concerns might be. (questions like "Will it hurt?, "Why do you want to look different?", and "Will you still be able to take care of me after the surgery?")
The book is charming and entertaining, with colorful and captivating illustrations throughout. I laughed twice at the little girl's thought bubbles, and even got a little choked up at one point by a poignant mother-daughter moment. Though the butterfly metaphor may be a little cliche, this is after all a children's book, and I've never met a child who wasn't fascinated with the caterpillar-cocoon-butterfly process.
I only have two issues with this book - and to be honest, they are issues which would be hard for any children's writer to conquer. How does one deal with the deeper issues of why Mommy wants to look different (and if Mommy isn't good enough the way she is, then maybe I'm not, either)? Of course, this book is written by a plastic surgeon, not a physchologist, so maybe that's a subject for a different book.
My other concern is that there is no real mention of the risks, though to be honest, I'm not sure if that is a positive or a negative. After all, the book's purpose is to allay a child's fears about Mom having surgery. I do understand that the author wants to avoid scaring children. However, I also wonder if perhaps there was some way to include a little something designed to prepare children for at least a few of the more sobering possibilities.
