Eat Your Peas, by Cheryl Karpen

Eat Your Peas (for Mom) by Cheryl Karpen is a delightful, short book to say thank you to a Mom. But it also gives the same kind of approval to the Mom that the Mom gave to her growing daughter. The book is illustrated in simple but fanciful printing and design. It adds much to the readability of the book.

I can't imagine what mother would not be pleased to receive a copy of this book. Often those daily, even momentary, commands seem to be floating somewhere out in space, missing the mark of the one intended to hear them. The author is constant in her remembering the remarks and the reasons behind the remarks. She validates that the remarks were legitimate whether the daughter heard or heeded the words.

The author asks the question, "What can I do to make your life easier and better?" and then she proceeds to validate her mother with encouragement to pursue any of her delayed dreams. The daughter nudges her mother to get out and try new things and to "ask for what she wants." One gets a sense, here, in the reading, that the mother has been reluctant to make her own set of demands as the years have gone on. The book comes full circle with the admonition from the daughter to stay healthy by eating the peas, herself!