Gardner held by his mother. Digital ID psnypl_prn_1061, New York Public LibraryIf you had to say, who is the person most responsible for instilling your love of reading? Was it your local librarian? Was it your mom?

My mom is not a librarian, but she often says she wanted to be. She volunteered at school and public libraries when I was growing up and she now works in a bookstore. She is the person most responsible for my lifelong love of reading (and probably my career path as well). So when I was wondering what to put on a book list in honor of Mother's Day it dawned on me... why not go straight to the source?

This Mother's Day, if you're lucky enough to have the opportunity, ask your mom for a book recommendation, or for a favorite of hers from when you were growing up. If nothing else it will spark a lively discussion at brunch on Sunday.

Nancy's Mother's Day Book List

• Amy and Isabelle: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout
• Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson
• Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel
• Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
• Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth
• Circling My Mother by Mary Gordon
• Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
• Elsewhere: A Memoir by Richard Russo
• The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
• Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
• Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year by Anne Lamott
• The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less by Terry Ryan
• She is Me: A Novel by Cathleen Schine
• Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me by Patricia Volk
• Tender At the Bone: Growing up at the Table by Ruth Reichl
• Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
• White Oleander: A Novel by Janet Fitch
• Who Do You Think You Are? A Memoir by Alyse Myers
• With or Without You: A Memoir by Domenica Ruta

Want more Mom Lit? Joshua Soule put together a list of Moms in Fantasy and Sci Fi. Jessica Cline has suggestions for viewing motherhood through the photographic lens. Ottawa Public Library has lists of books about Mothers and Daughters and Mothers and Sons. Johnson County Library has lists of nonfiction about Motherhood as well as Sassy Mom Memoirs. And here are two lists for kids, from a user at Ottawa Public Library and another from Boston Public Library.

Subject Headings

Special Days - Mothers' Day - Typical American Mother in pushcart, Digital ID 1682367, New York Public LibraryTo see all of the works the library has on a topic, browse subject headings. Use facets on the left to narrow down results into fiction, nonfiction, genre, age level or format.

Mother and Child
Mother and Child -- Juvenile Fiction
Mothers and Daughters
Mothers and Daughters -- Fiction
Mothers and Sons
Mothers and Sons -- Fiction
Motherhood - Nonfiction - Fiction

Subject headings don't capture everything about the contents of a work, but in BiblioCommons you can also browse by user generated tags and lists.

Images

Browse images of and about mothers and mothers with children in Digital Collections.

Happy Mother's Day to you and yours.