On Mother's Lap by Ann Herbert Scott

Image found: on the Barnes and Noble website

Scott, Ann Herbert and Coalson, Glo. On Mother’s Lap. New York: Clarion Books, 1992.

On Mother’s Lap is the first book that I have chosen for my text set on poverty. The picture book is about an Inuit boy who enjoys rocking on his mother’s lap.

This book starts off with the main character Michael sitting on his Mother’s lap rocking. Michael then decides that his dolly wants to rock as well so he goes and gets dolly. They rock for a bit and then Michael says that his boat needs him so he brings boat onto mothers lap and they rock. He goes on to gather his reindeer blanket and his puppy and they all rock on Mother’s lap back and forth. But then baby starts to cry, she would like to rock as well. Michael feels that there isn’t room for baby to rock with them but Mother disagrees. She gets baby and they all rock together. Michael is satisfied and Mother lets him know that “there is always room on Mother’s lap.

The title page illustration shows the setting of a cold climate along some type of water. All the houses in the picture appear to be very similar, made out of wood and small. We then see the inside of Michael’s house. There is a single chair in which he and his Mother are sitting in along with a clothes line across the wall where a pair of gloves, socks, and one t-shirt are strung. There is also a small stove, but that is all that is there. The walls are bare and the floor is wooden but both Michael and his mom have smiles on their faces as they snuggle together. When Michael goes to get his doll we see another angle of the house, which appears to just be one large room and there is a dresser and a box on the floor. In the pages following we see Michael sitting on his mothers lap, they are both smiling with the items that he has gathered but the surrounding areas of the page are white. This allowed me as a reader to just focus on the two of the and not their surroundings. It seemed that nothing else mattered just that the two of them were enjoying each other’s company. We are then shown another angle of the room as Michael goes to retrieve his reindeer blanket. His baby sister is shown lying on a bed. As the story concludes Mom, baby, and Michael are all snuggled up in the rocking chair together with a doll, puppy, boat, and blanket and they all appear to be at peace among their bare house.

I thought this picture book was interesting because when just focusing on the text of the book, it is hard to see the issue of poverty. Many children of all different socio-economic statuses enjoy rocking on their Mother’s lap and often don’t like to share this time with siblings. Because the situation is common, I feel that many children would be able to relate to the storyline and therefore have a connection with the book. Once I took a look at the illustrations I was able to see how poverty was a subculture represented in this book. Their house appeared to be a single room which was bare only including a small stove, dresser, bed, and rocking chair. Mom and Michael wore boots throughout the story possibly because the lack of heat in the house. The warm tones of colors chosen allowed for a subtle look into the life of this child living in poverty.

I think this would be a great book to read to early elementary school children to introduce the idea of poverty. The refrain “back and forth” draws children in and allows them to feel connected. This would be a good book to read aloud and then later allow the children to view the illustrations more closely. Although the book didn’t directly give any information about poverty, through the illustrations readers were able to see that although the house was bare, Michael, Mom and baby all loved each other and were happy anyway. There was always room to rock back and forth on Mother’s Lap. This book would definitely be one that I would include in my classroom library. I believe that it promotes a positive view of family and although students in the class may not have the same living conditions it is important for them to be able to see that there are similarities like maybe being rocked by their Mothers.

I believe this book does work as a piece of diverse literature because although it does not provide direct information about living in poverty, the reader is shown a familiar situation of a boy and his Mother yet is also able to see how the household may look different from theirs. The author, Ann Herbert Scott notes in the back of the book how she was inspired to write this story by her son Peter. Therefore this “universal childhood experience” as the front flap puts it, is something that she has seen in her own son. She is an insider on the main theme of family that I have found within all the books that I have chosen. The illustrator of the book, Glo Coalson lived in as Eskimo village for a year, according to the back flap and therefore has had an authentic experience to base her illustrations off of.