In this thoughtful, rhyming tale of a child whose parent has bipolar disorder, the child first tells readers that they love life with their Mama and Baba. At the same time, “Mama changes like the moon. Sometimes she’s blue, sometimes she’s bright.” Sometimes Mama is so blue that she can’t get out of bed—and even misses the child’s school concert. Baba tries to explain that Mama still cares, but the child is angry and feels that Mama’s problems “are so big, there’s no room for me at all.” They know Mama’s phases will pass, but her shifting moods are clearly challenging.
Baba later takes Mama to the hospital to get help, explaining to the child that Mama lives with an illness every day, and that people’s brains are different and need different care. Despite Baba’s gentle reassurance, the time without Mama is difficult for the child.
When Mama does come home, she explains that she missed the child, too, and that it is hard living with her illness. The final pages, however, show child and Mama happily engaging again, while the child asserts that they know Mama loves them “when she’s low and when she’s high.” A final spread shows the whole family in a loving embrace as the child affirms that Mama is her guiding light.
Backmatter explains more about mental illness, bipolar disorder, and where to get help, along with an Author’s Note about their mother’s and their own mental illness.
I appreciate that author Noah Grigni acknowledges the child’s negative feelings about Mama’s illness, but never positions Mama as an unfit parent. There’s a lot of love in this household, and that shines through, while the lunar metaphor feels apt and relatable. For children with a parent or other family member who has a mental illness, this is an affirming and recommended title.
(And while I usually don’t mention other reviews, I have to comment on Kirkus’s assertion that “Some may read Mama and Baba as a queer couple.” I don’t see how they can be read as anything but a queer couple; I think those who don’t will be few and far between. Their queerness is incidental to the story, but it’s obvious in how the child relates to them and in how they are shown with their arms around each other in several images.)
Mama is White; Baba is Black, and the child has a brown skin tone slightly lighter than Baba’s.
