IN OUR MOTHERS' HOUSE- POLACCO

Polacco, Patricia. 2009. IN OUR MOTHERS’ HOUSE. New York: Philomel Books. ISBN: 978-0-399-25076-7
Summary:
Polacco’s, OUR MOTHERS’ HOUSE is a story about a family that has adopted an African American daughter, Asian American son and a Caucasian daughter that will be raised by two mothers. The family lives in a very diverse neighborhood. The neighbors, the Mardicians, the Yamagakis, the Kiernanas, the Goldsteins and the Abdullas come together for block parties and to help build the tree house known as “Thistle House.” The neighborhood seems perfect until Mrs. Lockner puts her feelings into words when she says in front of the neighborhood, “I don’t appreciate what you two are!” The children learn that not all people see the love and family that “their” family has and gives to the children. IN OUR MOTHERS’ HOUSE there is love and memories and our two moms. Will the son has moved his family into the house to keep the memories alive. The family gathers and realizes “all of our hearts find peace whenever we are there.” In this story the message of love, family and being different doesn’t mean being wrong is conveyed in a gentle way for young children to understand.
Analysis:
In OUR MOTHERS’ HOUSE there seems to be a multicultural theme in addition to being an example of gay literature for young people. The markers I found in this book are those of the family and the families in the neighborhood. The first marker is the family has two moms. Meema and Marmee are two professional woman in the medical field. Meema is a pediatrician and Marmee a paramedic living in a diverse neighborhood. The moms adopt three children, an African American daughter, An Asian American son and a Caucasian daughter that create their diverse family. Just like their immediate family is diverse the extended family adds even more diversity to their lives. Meema’s large Italian family spends holidays with the family where making “gnocchi” is a family event. Another family tradition is sitting at the table and being able “to speak their hearts, and we never measured words.” The family lived in a neighborhood of many cultures. The neighborhood party allows each family to share a little about their culture through the food brought to the food court. “The Mardicians brought stuffed grape leaves and ground lamb. The Polos brought spanakopita and Greek salads. The Abdullas brought hummus and tabouli. Nonno made a huge pot of spaghetti and fried schnitzels. The Yamagakis brought sushi.” The Barbers made fried clams and crawdads and corn on the cob. Food is used often as a cultural marker and being included in this book was important when Meema meant “our street everyone was so different.”
The story is set in contemporary time as we see a diverse neighborhood, adoption by a same sex couple, job opportunities not being limited by life style choices. The negative feelings of Mrs. Lockner is a limited view but one that is still part of life. Mrs. Lockner glares at the family, turns her back on them and pulls her children away from fun neighborhood activities just because of their life choice. The words “I don’t appreciate what you two are!” are voiced in front of children and neighbors. When the children become confused the moms explain “She is full of fear, sweetie. She is afraid of what she cannot understand; she doesn’t understand us.”
The illustrations compliment the text beautifully. The drawings show the diversity of the family members through facial features, hair and skin tones. The illustrations convey the love, family and friends and how all are different but the same in many ways. The illustrations will help young children see the diversity of the people and the ways that people come together.
The story is told from the oldest daughter’s point of view and she sees the good events that made her memories and only touched on the negative feelings she and her siblings may have encountered. The children grew up and left to make their way in the world. It was interesting that her Asian American brother left to study engineering, and her fiery red- head sister went to New York to be a fashion designer. It seemed almost stereotypical, but then again stereotypes cannot keep people from their dreams.
Side note: My daughter is in New York in the fashion industry and many of her classmates had a similar look, free spirited style and the artistic ability that Millie demonstrated on the wall of the living room.
Reviews / Awards:
Book Links (A.L.A.) 01/01/10 Multicultural Review 05/01/10
Booklist 05/01/09 School Library Journal 05/01/09
Library Media Connection starred 10/01/09 Wilson's Children 10/01/10
Full-Text Reviews
Booklist (May 1, 2009 (Vol. 105, No. 17))
Grades 1-4. The oldest of three adopted children recalls her childhood with mothers Marmee and Meema, as they raised their African American daughter, Asian American son, and Caucasian daughter in a lively, supportive neighborhood. Filled with recollections of family holidays, rituals, and special moments, each memory reveals loving insight. At a school mother-daughter tea, for instance, the mothers make their first ever appearance in dresses. The narrator recalls, “My heart still skips a beat when I think of the two of them trying so hard to please us.” Only a crabby neighbor keeps her children away from their family. Meema explains, “She’s afraid of what she cannot understand: she doesn’t understand us.” The energetic illustrations in pencil and marker, though perhaps not as well-rendered as in some previous works, teem with family activities and neighborhood festivity.

Horn Book (Fall 2009)
The eldest of three siblings (each a different race) adopted by a lesbian couple recalls an idyllic childhood. The heavy-handed message is that same-sex parents are just like everybody else, but what real family is this perfect? The nostalgic adult tone and dearth of actual plot severely limit the child appeal of this well-intentioned story played out in Polacco's recognizable illustrations.

Kirkus Review (March 15, 2009)
The placement of the title's possessive apostrophe here is no typo: Two mothers own this house, and they have filled it with lots of love. Unfortunately, while this ambitious picture book seeks to offer an inclusive vision of family, it ultimately comes up short. Meema and Marmee's eldest daughter offers a sweeping narrative about three children embraced by their loving, interracial, adoptive family and multicultural community, with their "mothers' house" at the center of it all. It is outside of this safe haven that the children face overt and neatly contained homophobia in the character of one bad apple, who declares, "I don't appreciate what you two are!" The distillation of hate into a single character undermines the reality of systematic oppression faced by same-sex couples; furthermore, the flash-forward narration depicting each child grown and married into heterosexual, monoracial unions ironically presents this family as an anomaly. There is a desperate need for books that present queer families as just another part of the American quilt, but this title, despite its obvious good intentions, doesn't do it. (Picture book. 6-8)

Connections:
I really like this book. I think it does a nice job of showing how people can work and play together. The love the family shows to their children, extended family and neighbors is a wonderful example of finding the good in people. This book could be used in upper grades when included with other books that have examples of diverse families. The additional cultures in this book and showing how almost everyone works together could be a great way to make a connection to many classrooms. Mrs. Lockner is a character to look at closer. The discussions in upper grades could really bring awareness of how people’s actions affect others and possibly keep change from happening.

Since I teach first grade I am leaning towards the recommendation in our notes, “consider having this book in your library or classroom.” I can address individual students if there are questions. I think my students would not really understand the family dynamics from just looking at the pictures, but would enjoy the family fun pictures.