Your Mama

Ramos reconfigures a well-known joke format into an uplifting, rhythmic exultation of motherhood in this bouncy debut. “Your mama so sweet, she could be a bakery,/ all frosting, powdered sugar, and pastries,” opens Ramos. The first line appears in a banner on a verso page, before smoothly incorporating Spanish on the recto: “Leaves love notes in your almuerzo, homemade./ She’s the cinnamon to your tembleque,/ the tres leches to your cake.” Vivacious spreads by Alcantára depict a majority cast of color, centering a dynamic mother and child with light brown skin and long dark waves who attend school parent night hand-in-hand (“Your mama dress so fine”), take stacks of books to the library checkout (“Your mama a brainiac”), and “with posters homemade,” attend rallies for justice (“Your mama so woke”). Parents and children alike will appreciate this thoroughly contemporary portrait of familial love. Ages 4–7. [em](Apr.) [/em]