Just as surely are there are boys and girls, mommies and daddies, I was certain there had to be a "Mommy" book to compliment YOUR DADDY WAS JUST LIKE YOU, which was published first (Spring 2010, GP Putnam) and is also illustrated by David Walker.

Fortunately, Susan Kochan, my brilliant editor, agreed.

I thought creating a companion book would be easy-peasy. After all, the hardest part—coming up with THE IDEA—was over, wasn't it? The format, tone, pacing and story arch had already been decided so I had a template to follow. I knew exactly how many scenes to create, and where to begin and end. All I had to do was change the main character from a boy to a girl…simple enough, right?

Wrong. The first book kept getting in the way.

Yes, I wanted YOUR MOMMY to be the same as YOUR DADDY. But it had to be different — as different as boys and girls. And I wanted many of the scenes — especially the "Playing Games" scene and the "Learning and Getting Smarter" scene and well… every scene — to be sort of the same. Because, it doesn't matter whether you are a boy or a girl, we all share many of the same experiences. We all begin as babies. We all have struggles. We all get mad. We all are not great at everything. We all learn.

But… it had to be different, too! Because girls are different from boys. And, because otherwise it would be BORING!

That's where the challenge came in: how to make YOUR MOMMY WAS JUST LIKE YOU both the same and different from YOUR DADDY WAS JUST LIKE YOU — and most especially fun, so David Walker would have new, fun, interesting scenes to illustrate.

Fortunately my babies, Max (basis for the boy character in YOUR DADDY), and Lexi (basis for the girl character in YOUR MOMMY), gave me plenty of memories to create from.

 

from School Library Journal — March 2011

A grandmother looks at an old photo album with her granddaughter, telling her stories about her mother when she was little.
Each page shows something about her childhood, from nicknames to temper tantrums, daisy chains, and scraped knees. The grandmother explains how hard her daughter worked when she was trying to learn to read and how stubborn she was about picking out her own clothes. The youngster sees pictures of her mom dressed as a frog, a magic fairy, and a beautiful princess. The illustrations are soft and gentle, complementing each milestone mentioned in the story. Perfect for intergenerational lap sharing.

–Kris Hickey, Columbus Metropolitan Library, OH

from Publishers Weekly — April 2011

This follow-up to Your Daddy Was Just LikeYou (2010) follows the format of its predecessor, as a grandmother tells her granddaughter all about raising the girl's mother. Bennett smartly covers the good along with the bad—as a child, the girl's mother was adventurous, imaginative, and active, but "some days she turned into the terror!... On those days she was sent to time-out. Just like you." Walker's acrylic paintings capture the story's emotional highs and lows, as well as its warm humor; the overall tone, though, is one of assured love throughout the generations. Ages 3–5. (Mar.)

from Kirkus Reviews — April 2011

Bennett's comforting refrain, along with the measured text, creates a soothing rhythm that pairs nicely with Walker's muted acrylics. Certain vignettes wonderfully capture less-endearing moments of childhood, such as when the grandmother remembers her daughter's tantrums, when she "pestered and poked, stomped and spit… / On those days she was sent to TIME OUT."

from Stories For Children — Jan. 24, 2011

If you have a little girl, or a mommy, get Your Mommy Was Just Like You. No matter what the age of your mother, I can't think of a more appropriate present for Mother's Day. Oh, don't forget one for granny, if you have one, she'll love it too.

—David Broughton

• South Coast Today "Author-Mom Promotes Joy of Reading" by Lauren Daley – May 8, 2011
• Booksforkidsblog "Down Memory Lane" review by GTC – April 29, 2011
• Portlandbookreview.com review by Alicea Swett – April 21, 2011
• OC Family e-zine "Read These Cuddly Stories" by Kristin Schott – April 2011
• San Francisco Book Review and Sacramento Book Review by Aron Row – April 19, 2011
• Feathered Quill Book Review - March 11, 2011
• Kid Lit Frenzy — Feb. 17, 2011
• SFC Blog Family Matters, Review by Dave Broughton, (reprinted in Stories For Children Magazine) – Jan 30, 2011