Mother’s Day Books to Read Together
Make this Mother’s Day special by sharing the gift of reading! Mother’s Day can be celebrated with any mom-like figure in your lives, so we’ve rounded up some of our favorite books that will bring your family together to create lasting memories. Dive into our recommendations and make this Mother’s Day one to remember.
For little kids
The relationship between a grandmother and her grandchild is special. Bestselling author Hannah C. Hall has written this board book to celebrate precious time spent together. Hall’s lively verse and illustrations by Aleksandra Szmidt depict typical moments between a grandma and grandchild-from trips to the park to cozy story times, from playing with toys to baking cookies. Whether they live nearby or miles apart, grandmas and little ones will love this book all about their special bond.
Little Bunny can't sleep! There's so much to think and wonder about, big and small. But with a nudge from Mommy, Little Bunny discovers that sometimes our thoughts can be turned into happy dreams . . . where anything is possible.
Debut author and illustrator Leah Hong's tender drawings and gentle dialogue between mother and child sing a modern lullaby for anyone who has trouble falling asleep—or whose imagination has soared at bedtime.
For kids reading independently
From a New York Times bestselling author and Caldecott-honor winning artist comes an exuberant illustrated story about playing dress up, having fun, and feeling free.
From an acclaimed author comes a cheerful, uplifting story of family and belonging, the first in a series perfect for fans of the Vanderbeekers and the Penderwicks.
If you want to get to know eleven-year-old Samantha Ali-O’Connor, you need to know three things:
One, she isn’t the only one of her siblings who is adopted, but she is the only one whose name isn't inspired by the ocean.
Two, she and Harbor always compete with each other to be the best Oldest Sibling—and just about everything else.
And three, she is determined to prove she's a real Ali-O'Connor by taking over the family business, repairing and chartering boats.
Except there's a Capital-P Problem: Her mothers have been Serious Whispering about selling the business before summer's end! Sam needs to come up with a plan, quick, before Harbor finds out. And before Sam loses her chance to inherit the business and be an Ali-O'Connor forever.
Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the Forest, Xan, is kind. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Xan rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.
One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. As Luna’s thirteenth birthday approaches, her magic begins to emerge—with dangerous consequences. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Deadly birds with uncertain intentions flock nearby. A volcano, quiet for centuries, rumbles just beneath the earth’s surface. And the woman with the Tiger’s heart is on the prowl . . .
After you finish The Girl Who Drank the Moon, look for Kelly Barnhill's latest wondrous fantasy for young readers, The Ogress and the Orphans!
For teens
In this dark dystopian tale, 17-year-old Hawk is growing up hard and fast in post-apocalyptic New York City—until a perilous destiny forces her to take flight and protect her home.
Where is Maximum Ride?Ten years ago a girl with wings fought to save the world. But then she disappeared.
Now she's just a fading legend, remembered only in stories.
Hawk doesn't know her real name. She doesn't know who her family was, or where they went. The only thing she remembers is that she was told to wait on a specific street corner, at a specific time, until her parents came back for her.
She stays under the radar to survive … until a destiny that is perilously close to Maximum Ride's forces her to take flight. Someone is coming for her.
But it's not a rescue mission. It's an execution.
From critically acclaimed author Katrina Leno comes a tender love letter to books and summertime, with a touch of magic.
Anna Lucia Bell believes in luck: bad luck. Bad luck made her best friend stop talking to her. Bad luck caused her parents’ divorce. Bad luck is forcing her mother, Miriam, to sell the family’s beloved bookstore. And it is definitely bad luck that Anna seems to be the only person in the world Miriam is unable to recommend a life-changing book.
When Anna finds out that she and her mom are spending two months in a New England seaside town called Rockport, she expects a summer plagued with bad luck too. But Rockport has surprises in store for Anna, including a comet making its first appearance in over twenty years and two new—but familiar—friends.
In what will prove to be the most important summer of her life so far, Anna learns about love, herself, and the magic that an ordinary summer can bring.
Sixteen-year-old Maya Krishnan is fiercely protective of her friends, immigrant community, and single mother, but she knows better than to rock the boat in her conservative Florida suburb. Her classmate Juneau Zale is the polar opposite: she’s a wealthy white heartbreaker who won’t think twice before capsizing that boat.
When Juneau invites Maya to join the Pugilists—a secret society of artists, vandals, and mischief-makers who fight for justice at their school—Maya descends into the world of change-making and resistance. Soon, she and Juneau forge a friendship that inspires Maya to confront the challenges in her own life.
But as their relationship grows romantic, painful, and twisted, Maya begins to suspect that there’s a whole different person beneath Juneau’s painted-on facade. Now Maya must learn to speak her truth in this mysterious, mixed-up world—even if it results in heartbreak.
Between emotional threads of first love and identity, comes a powerful exploration of the crusade for social change within a divided community.
High school junior Michie is struggling to define who she is for her scholarship essays, her big shot at making it into Brown as a first-generation college student. The prompts would be hard for anyone, but Michie's been estranged from her mother since she was seven and her concept of family has long felt murky.
Enter new kid and basketball superstar Derek de la Rosa. He is very cute, very talented, and very much has his eye on Michie, no matter how invisible she believes herself to be.
to read together
A New York Times bestseller!
Mama and baby make one incredible team in this new picture book from New York Times bestselling author and Peloton instructor extraordinaire Robin Arzón.
Before I met you, I dreamed of you. This is the story of how we first met.
Ultramarathons. Bike sprints. Squats and deadlifts. Naps. Kitchen dance parties! All of it is in preparation for meeting Pequeno, the “Little One” growing in this strong mama’s belly. From first heartbeats and fluttery kicks to grinning grandparents and that first loud cry — pregnancy might just be the biggest workout yet! But there's nothing this mom and new baby can't tackle together as a team.
New York Times bestselling author and Peloton Head Instructor Robin Arzón takes readers on sweat-packed journey through motherhood in this affirming and heartwarming celebration of mothers and parents everywhere.
Head Peloton Instructor Robin Arzón follows up New York Times bestseller Strong Mama with Strong Baby, tracking the first milestones of a baby’s life, using Robin’s signature mantras as motivation.
There’s a new addition to our strong family! Now that Pequeño is born, mom and baby are ready to move together. From tummy time, to sitting up and crawling, to those exciting first steps, baby is growing stronger every day. And mom and dad are right there with her, laughing, dancing, working out, and resting. Because this family is stronger together.
Preaching progress over perfection, Robin Arzón uses her popular Peloton mantras to pair with baby’s first physical milestones, encouraging parents and baby to move together.
This colorful, easy-to-follow, beginner cookbook from ChopChop Family magazine, a James Beard award-winning publication with a mission to get families to cook real food together, features more than 150 recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Specially designed to appeal to both adults and kids in budget- and time-strapped families, the recipes include favorites like Overnight Oatmeal, Double Vegetable Fried Rice, Free Form Lasagna, and One-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream, along with simple cooking and meal-prep instructions. The book is packed with inspiring introductions to popular whole foods, such as All About Carrots (or Broccoli or Kale!), kitchen skills, such as How to Chop an Onion or Cook Rice (and why brown rice is better than white rice), Mix & Match charts (sandwiches, smoothies, and beyond), and nutrition sidebar (What are Omega-3’s anyway?). Every page of this rich resource is designed to help families develop the know-how and confidence to cook with whole foods and the many benefits of making and eating homemade meals together.
for you
“An invaluable resource for parents and caregivers,” this important, empathetic guidebook offers practical steps for managing children's health (Emily Oster, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Cribsheet and Expecting Better).
Any parent who has ever walked out of a concerning appointment with their child's doctor or teacher has experienced a heady mix of emotions–fear, love, confusion, concern, sadness, and perhaps even anger. While every parent hopes for a healthy child, the reality is that children face many common challenges, including medical issues like ADHD, asthma, food allergies, feeding issues, learning disabilities, anxiety and depression, and developmental delays, throughout their formative years. As the role of a parent becomes one of a caregiver, it can be overwhelming for parents and children alike, particularly if money, time, access, or any combination of those are in short supply.
As a balm, Dr. Kelly Fradin offers Advanced Parenting, based on her experience as a complex-care pediatrician. In this crucial guide, parents will find empathy and support as well as evidence-based practical guidance. Of greatest import is the need for tools with which to manage the emotional stress that comes from having a child who deviates from the norm, as well as coping with uncertainty and navigating the business of care. Readers will discover ways to optimize the outcomes for their family and make their day-to-day life easier.
Advanced Parenting will help families from the beginning of their journey, helping parents to decide when a child needs help, accepting the implications of a challenge, obtaining a correct diagnosis, learning about the issue, building a treatment team and coming up with a comprehensive plan. Dr. Fradin explores how a child struggling can affect the entire family dynamic including the parent’s relationships and the siblings overall well-being, and with her experience as a complex care pediatrician, she will help parents avoid common mistakes. Parents will feel seen, supported, and better prepared to be both a parent and a caregiver.
Sometimes, motherhood feels never-ending. A child is born, chaos ensues, and it seems like life will never return to normal.
In You Are a F*cking Awesome Mom, award-winning journalist and Instagram star Leslie Anne Bruce acknowledges that, yes, motherhood is a total mind f*ck—but then she offers the self-empowerment lessons new mothers need to get through the psychic upheaval and emerge stronger than ever. After childbirth, a woman's body, her relationships, and her very sense of self are tested like never before. Bruce encourages readers to look past the sugarcoated truisms about the miracles of child-rearing in order to embrace the real joys of motherhood, spit-up stains and all.
Loaded with unfettered support from a mom who has been through it all, You Are a F*cking Awesome Mom offers a lifeline of encouragement, inspiration, and community for the new mama who got a baby, lost her mind, and desperately wants to find herself again.
With The Creative Vegetable Gardener, lifestyle editor and master gardener Kelly Smith Trimble encourages readers to widen their focus, be playful, and imagine a vegetable garden that reflects their own unique aesthetic and offers a meditative sanctuary as well as a source of fresh, homegrown food. From seed selection to garden layout and regenerative gardening practices, gardeners of all levels will find Smith Trimble's liberating advice a pathway to making the garden a place of nourishment for the soul and creative spirit, while also feeding the body.
In The Confident Mom you will be encouraged that you are not alone — God is with you and He wants to help you with the challenges you face each day. Through inspiring stories, Biblical principles and Joyce’s own valuable life lessons, there is no doubt you will discover the path to a new confidence and joy in motherhood. No matter your age, the size of your family, or the circumstances you find yourself in, The Confident Mom will help you become the joyful, confident mother God created you to be!
blogs and articles
Hachette Book Group Mother’s Day Gift Guide
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