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Mars Needs Moms
Berkeley Breathed
Philomel (2007)

Milo, like Where The Wild Things Are's Max, is not so convinced that the world needs mothers, especially ones like his. His mom makes him eat his broccoli and carrots. She makes him take out the trash. And when she orders Milo to bed without supper for innocently painting his sister purple, Milo rebels shouting "I sure don't see what's so special about mothers!"

Well, just because whiny human boys haven't figured out the importance of moms doesn't mean motherly benefits have also gone unnoticed by the likes of, say, Martians. The rest of the story follows various Mom-napping Martians, who by the way "grow motherless from the ground like potatoes" and therefore have difficulty finding rides to soccer practice, as they lay their Starbucks-laden traps. Wouldn't you know it, Milo's awful mom is one of the (un)lucky moms to be whisked away to Mars.

Of course Milo stows away on the spaceship (more likely for adventure than mom-loyalty). Unfortunately, as Milo disembarks, he trips, smashing his helmet on the Martian earth. We see Milo gasp and choke for air and then we turn the page to one of my favorite pictures by Breathed. Here comes Mom to the rescue - glowing, floating, her face darkened and haloed from the blazing sun behind her. There is a glint off the glass of her own helmet that she seems to be taking off. Can she save her son in time? Would you if you were Milo's mom? (The picture also shows that tower of light spots that even movie cameras can't get rid of when shooting into the sun. Cool effect. )

There is a happy ending. Maybe moms really are special. And maybe this book would be perfect for a digital art class. Here comes the Teacher Brain. I've gotten better at not thinking like a Teacher every time I read a book - "This would be great for my Butterfly Unit!" "What a captivating read-aloud this would be while we study Geometry!" Blah, blah, blah. I mean to say, I'm much better at reading books as a Reader, as She Who Enjoys Stories.

Still, I can't help categorizing Mars Needs Moms just a smidge. And my category? Books That Hook 'Em With Art First. The handful of kids I've given this book to have all read it twice - once to melt into Breathed's virtual art (copyright info puts it this way: "The illustrations were created with virtual acrylics and virtual watercolor on 100% rag archival virtual illustration board.") and the second time to pick up the text. Me? I'm not a huge sci-fi-for-kids fan. I tend to prefer more nostalgic stories. Mars Needs Moms is a very modern, very bright, very busy little book. And this is where reading as a Reader comes in handy. It wasn't my favorite book, but I spent plenty of time marveling at how computer chips can make such cool pictures.

Child-lit recently discussed (and still is a bit) celebrity authors. I remember someone mentioning Berkeley Breathed's new book and a comment Breathed made about writing for children during an NPR interview. I think the post's take on Breathed was negative, something about not understanding how to write for children. On my celebrity-book-o-meter (on a scale from Madonna to Lithgow), I'd put Mars Needs Moms somewhere between Jerry Seinfeld's Halloween and any book by Jamie Lee Curtis. Tell you what. Check out Breathed's other children's books and lemme' know what you think.