Mother Knows! My Mother Is So Smart! by Tomie de Paola

I knew from the time I was really little that my mother was smart.

She always knew when to change my diaper.

She always knew I was hungry BEFORE I cried.

Every little one knows that their moms have superpowers. Not only can they make the best cookies and homemade Popsicles in the freezer, but they can perform difficult and dangerous feats without even visiting a phone booth to don a crusader's cape.

She knows how to drive my grandfather's old delivery truck.

Sometimes she takes me to school in it!

And mothers definitely know best. A mom EVEN knows better than your teacher--or even the principal!

Once a teacher told me that I had to wait outside after school.

I said, "My mother told me to wait for her right here, and my mother knows everything."

"Well, your mother must be very smart," the principal said.

"She is," I answered. "My mother is so smart she can stand on her head."

And she can!

In his newest picture book memoir, My Mother Is So Smart (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2010), Caldecott and Newbery winning author-illustrator Tomie dePaola has given us the perfect Mother's Day book, a portrait of mom as seen by the very young--beautiful, strong, wise, the provider of all good things. Mothers know that no one will ever see them in the special way their little ones do, and dePaola's charming illustrations, set off by his signature borders, portray this beautiful time in the mother-child relationship perfectly. Give it to your mothers to remind them of those tender days, and read it to your youngsters, and if you can stand on your head while doing so, go for it!