My mother calls me
from darkness to light. . . .
I wrap her words around me,
warm with good wishes
for the day to come.

Joanne Ryder's heartwarming text and Peter Catalanotto's glowing art celebrate the tender, everyday moments shared between a mother and daughter. In every welcome and whisper, laugh and farewell, the ever-changing tones of a mother's voice express a gift a daughter can treasure -- her mother's constant love.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

My mother calls me from darkness to light. . . .I wrap her words around me, warm with good wishes for the day to come. Joanne Ryder's heartwarming text and Peter Catalanotto's glowing art celebrate the tender, everyday moments shared between a mother and daughter. In every welcome and whisper, laugh and farewell, the ever-changing tones of a mother's voice express a gift a daughter can treasure -- her mother's constant love.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Ryder (My Father's Hands) pays tribute to unconditional maternal love with this book that exudes a fondness and warmth for a childhood relationship that transcends time. By portraying a girl's daily exchanges with her mother, the author communicates how powerful this love can be, even in its simplest form. Catalanotto's (Matthew A.B.C.) watercolors, bathed in a warm light, evoke a tenderness derived from closely observed intimate moments, and underscore the tale's timeless quality. In one scene, the girl fixes her hair in the morning light, her cat-an omnipresence (unmentioned in the text), much like the mother's love in this story-also grooms herself and the mother looks on with a smile. Ryder's eloquent language enhances such everyday scenes with a freshness that renders them special and new. ("Her voice is the sun lighting my day,/ ever changing with her feelings, yet ever the same.") Both author and artist chart moments of triumph and disappointment, and convey a respect between parent and child, sensing when they need to give each other room and when they need closeness and comfort. This is a book to treasure-for both mother and daughter. Ages 5-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 1-4-A young girl thinks about the close relationship she has with her mother during good times and bad, and how it is all echoed through the reassuring inflections of the woman's voice. She loves her mother's contagious spirit as she sends her off to school and the thoughtful questions about her day that welcome her home. She appreciates how her mom cheers her on at her softball games and how she comforts her when she is not feeling well, or when things go wrong. Autumn-colored illustrations add warmth to this feel-good story about a parent's significance in a child's daily life.-Wanda Meyers-Hines, Ridgecrest Elementary School, Huntsville, AL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The cover image, of a young girl and her mom in the kitchen using serving spoons as their microphones while they sing, is a key to this resonant and openhearted paean to the sound of a mother's voice. The daughter begins her day with her mother calling her "from darkness to light" as she wakes up. Her mother's laughter and warmth draw the girl to breakfast and out to the day, "[wrapping] her words around me." Mother hums in the backyard, cheers at the ballgame, whispers for comfort and above all, says her daughter's name with infinite tenderness. Catalanotto captures light and shadow magically; his grounded figures with their sculptural solidity, well-worn colors and edges blurred by the softness of memory inhabit a real world of remote controls and regal house cats. Supple, sweet and satisfying. (Picture book. 5-9)