1.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Polacco, Patricia. 2009. In Our Mother's House. New York: Philomel. ISBN: 9780399250767.
Polacco, Patricia. 2009. In Our Mother's House. New York: Philomel. ISBN: 9780399250767.
2.
PLOT SUMMARY
Three adopted children enjoy their lives with their two mothers. The moms wear dresses for the first time for their mother-daughter tea, the neighborhood helps them build a tree house in the backyard, and the family helps organize a neighborhood carnival. Even though they face a neighbor who treats them horribly, the rest of the neighbors gather around them to show they care.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Three adopted children enjoy their lives with their two mothers. The moms wear dresses for the first time for their mother-daughter tea, the neighborhood helps them build a tree house in the backyard, and the family helps organize a neighborhood carnival. Even though they face a neighbor who treats them horribly, the rest of the neighbors gather around them to show they care.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Although
the perfection of this family life seems a bit over the top, Polacco
does a good job of sharing how all types of families can be happy and
full of love. She also does a great job of foreshadowing the hate of
the neighbor through the neighbor not being responsive to the family
when they come to her door at Halloween. Later, the family is fully
attacked by her at the neighborhood carnival. This foreshadowing
helps build the tension and makes the attack more believable than if
the neighbor hadn't been introduced earlier in the book.
The
artwork is full of joy and fun. Each page is full of soft color,
life, and movement. The page where the family go over to the hateful
neighbor's to trick-or-treat is great as it depicts the joy of the
children and mothers, the cuteness of all their costumes, and hints
at the attack that will come later as the neighbor feels shields
herself with the door from the family. Readers will also want to
spend much time staring at the carnival page with all its busyness
and details to look at all the games.
Themes
of the importance
of family and love permeate this picture book. The beauty of the
neighborhood outweighs the ugliness of one neighbor, yet the sting of
the attack rings true. Polacco
has done an excellent job of showing that caring
and compassion can
go
so much further
than hate.
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
- Booklist: “This portrait of a loving family celebrates differences.”
- School Library Journal: “A lovely book that can help youngsters better understand their world.”
- Library Media Connection starred: “This is a strong and memorable story of a peaceful, devoted family unit.”
5. CONNECTIONS
- Through Patricia Polacco's website, readers can send their own e-postcards with artwork from the book. The page on this book also features some of the artwork with the words blocked out. These can be used to analyze the art itself, have students guess what might be happening in the artwork before reading, and fill in what they remember about the book after reading. The website also has information on Polacco's books and biographical information. The fun stuff tab has puzzles, color-ins, and bookmarks activities. There are also broad discussion questions with some kids' answers published on the site on everything from kindness to overcoming fears.
- Have students talk about what makes up a family. Tolerance.org has a great lesson on what makes a family. It includes clips from a documentary for grades K-8 called That's a Family. It also includes data from the 2010 US Census.
- Other picture books that address different kinds of families:
Parr, Todd. The Family Book. ISBN: 9780316070409.
Lewis, Rose A. Every Year on Your Birthday. ISBN: 0316525529.
Downey, Roma. Love is a Family. ISBN: 9780439444231.
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