My mother's delightful deaths

Carla Haslbauer

Book - 2021

A little girl's mom, who's an opera singer, plays with her and a neighbor child during the day. During the night, when she's on stage, a transformation occurs, and the death scenes leave a special impression on both the audience and her daughter.

Saved in:

Children's Room Show me where

jE/Haslbaue
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
Children's Room jE/Haslbaue Checked In
Subjects
Genres
Picture books for children
Picture books
Published
New York : North/South 2021.
Language
English
German
Main Author
Carla Haslbauer (author)
Other Authors
David Henry Wilson, 1937- (translator)
Item Description
Translation of: Die tode meiner mutter.
"First published in Switzerland under the title Die Tode meiner Mutter"--Colophon.
Physical Description
40 unnumbered pages : color illustrations ; 29 cm
ISBN
9780735844568
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Parents play many roles every day, and this particular mother is no exception. She can be sweet or stern, loud or quiet, a horse or a cook--it simply depends on the situation. To make things more complicated, her actual profession is a bit mysterious, too: she's rarely the same thing twice, and she often dies at the end of her workdays. How? She's an opera singer! In between "typical" parenting duties, she practices her music (occasionally scaring the neighbors), tries out makeup and costumes, and eventually heads off to the theater. The children get to sit in the audience, and though the death scenes are dramatic, they know it's all pretend and that their beloved mother is resurrected at the end of the evening. It's a marvelous basis for a story, often dryly funny and clever. The detailed illustrations, rendered in a soft pencil style, are sublimely stylish, capturing both cozy home scenes and the flashier theater world. An intriguing and amusing take on the roles that all parents play.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review

From the start of this quirky and heartfelt German import, it is clear that there is something a bit mysterious happening. Endpapers show a child peeking out from between red stage curtains; these curtains set the scene for the drama that is the life of a performer's daughter. "My mother can be lots of different people. Sometimes she's nice. And sometimes she's nasty. Sometimes she's quiet, and sometimes she's loud. You see, my mother's an opera singer." The narrator knows that her mother is just acting as she dies onstage, but as the child explains, while sitting in a large theater seat with her knees up to her shoulders and tears streaming down her face, "every time it looks real." Happily, by the time the family leaves for home, the opera star is transformed back into Mother, arm-in-arm with her partner and flanked by the narrator and her smaller sibling. Haslbauer (whose own mother was an opera singer) employs smart pacing and dramatic page-turns as the narrator explains what it's like to be related to someone who is larger than life. Illustrations use unusual angles, exaggerated sizes, and long pencil and brush strokes to emphasize Mother's outsized personality and artistic impact. Maeve Visser Knoth January/February 2022 p.85(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

A child describes life with an eccentric mother. Mom is changeable and unpredictable. She can be "nice" or "nasty," quiet or loud. She's a true diva--really: an opera singer who plays many roles, sometimes varying from day to day. The unnamed narrator and younger sibling are comfortable with their family dynamics enough to dive into her costume collection and put on their own shows. Today they are going to see Mom's premiere performance as the witch in Hansel and Gretel. In this opera, as in many of her other roles, Mom must die onstage, fully explaining the odd, possibly off-putting title while providing reassurance to young readers. Although the child knows it's just pretend, the art depicts the child's tears and worry, for it looks so real. Grown-ups in the audience also get caught up in the sadness--even Dad sheds a tear or two of his own. The child narrates in simple, declarative sentences, with additional dialogue bubbles and sounds emanating from Mom's vocal cords--these are presented in varied typefaces that enlarge and enhance the action, all translated from German in this Swiss import. Elongated, exaggerated, often hilarious illustrations fill in the details in full- and double-page illustrations as well as vignettes of many shapes. The children completely accept that their mom is different from other mothers and never really doubt her love. In fact, to them she's quite (if not entirely) normal, and they are immensely proud of her. Quirky, unusual, and quite delightful. (Picture book. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.