When Mama Comes Home Tonight

by Eileen Spinelli, Jane Dyer (Illustrator)

Overview

When Mama Comes Home Tonight will be a special book for parents and children to enjoy together. Eileen Spinelli's charming rhymes and Jane Dyer's heartwarming illustrations celebrate the nighttime rituals shared between a mother and a child, spinning simple pleasures into magical moments families will cherish. Any parent who comes home to a child will know this book's the one.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689810657
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	09/01/1998
Edition description:	Repackage
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	691,514
Product dimensions:	10.70(w) x 10.62(h) x 0.39(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Eileen Spinelli has written many books for children. Her 1991 debut Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch was a Christopher Award winner, and she has gone on to author numerous picture books, poetry collections, and chapter books, including the bestselling When Mama Comes Home Tonight, and the critically acclaimed Sophie’s Masterpiece. Eileen lives in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

Jane Dyer is the illustrator of many books for children, including When Mama Comes Home Tonight, Sophie’s Masterpiece by Eileen Spinelli, Roly Poly by Mem Fox, and the New York Times bestselling Cookies series by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Editorial Reviews

A bestselling Spinelli title arrives in board books! The Jane Dyer pictures are fetching; the story really sweet.

Mother returns from her job to spend an evening of play and bath time with a sleepy toddler. "The book works marvelously as a soporific, and will reassure anxiously waiting children as well as the parents who dash home to put them to bed," said PW. Ages 1-5. (Apr.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Another song worth singing, Eric Carle's Today Is Monday, begins with string beans on Monday and spaghetti on Tuesday. Different animals eat their way through the week, teaching the names of the days as they go. Music and lyrics included. ( Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS-Mama comes home from work to her loving child ready for the night's routine of dinner and play, cleaning and mending, bath, book, and bed. It's an ideal environment: no stress, no crying, with mother and child in perfect harmony. While this idyllic scene might strike adults as unrealistic, for children, the ultimate response will be positive. The rhyming text is nicely paced, soothing without being humdrum or coy. The thrice repeated refrain, "When Mama comes home from work, dear child,/when Mama comes home tonight," sets the upbeat tone while establishing a tidy framework for the tale. The paintings appear either as full-page spreads where intricate patterns abound, or as circular vignettes that are focused on one aspect of the story. Created with colored pencils and watercolors, the illustrations are lovely and youngsters will fall into their soft dreamy glow. The child's rosy cheeks and red curly hair are a mirror of Mama's. There is a sweetness to this book, an inner strength that defies reality. It could become a necessary oasis in an otherwise hectic, domestic schedule, making reading it to a child before bedtime pure pleasure.-Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI

School Library Journal

The few precious hours between an outside-the-home working mother's arrival at her child's side and that child's bedtime are viewed through an idealized lens; the effectþeither loving or hopelessly sentimentalizedþwill depend on the outlook of adults who open this book for lap-sharing. The rhythmic text meant to soothe seems forced and stilted; the repeated use of the phrase "dear child" distances the words unnecessarily. Muted pastel illustrations conjure an era from the past: The mother's old- fashioned rosiness, hairstyle, and dress are WWII or earlier, reminding readers that "working" mothers are not a novelty. As mother and child share both boisterous and quiet activities, culminating in peaceful slumber, the well-tended house and the gentle admonishment to put the blocks away are elements that may reflect how mothers would like to envision their day, rather than what really transpires. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews