Someday: capturing perfectly the love between mother and daughter
/“Someday, a long time from now, your own hair will glow silver in the sun. And when that day comes, love, you will remember me.”
Heavens this is a beautiful book! It’s a teary one—a lovely wander through the life of a baby girl told through the eyes of her mother. Truly, I get goosebumps every time I read it.
A young mother holds her newborn and kisses her fingers. And she tells the baby of her mother-wishes for the baby’s life.
Things like:
‘Someday your eyes will be filled with a joy so deep that they shine.’
And even things like:
‘Someday you will hear something so sad that you will fold up with sorrow.’
These are not a mother’s wishes for a simple, clean and shiny life—rather they are a mother’s wishes for a life for her baby that embraces all that life has to offer.
There’s a lovely progression as the mother talks to her child from ‘one day’ in the past to ‘sometimes’ in the present to ‘someday’ in the future.
And the gentle and inviting illustrations follow the child from baby to childhood, adolescence, adulthood and through to old age.
While lovely to read with a young child, this will probably strike the deepest chords with that young child’s parents. It’s my go-to baby shower or pregnancy present for mothers who are expecting girls and I gave it to my daughter-in-law Kathleen when she first announced that I was getting a granddaughter.
(Kathleen recently told me that when she first read it she thought it was nice. But now that her daughter is here and profoundly impacting her family and her world every day, Kathleen says she can’t read it without crying!)
For a young child, this is a story about:
how life progresses
the joys still to come
connections between generations
JOY!
For the child’s parents, it’s about:
love that isn’t changed by circumstances
hope, dreams and wishes and good things to come
connections between generations
JOY!
As a gift, it's especially nice for:
parents of girls
parents-to-be (of girls or boys because ultimately the wishes are the same)
adult daughters leaving home and embarking on a new life
And my favourite quote:
"Someday, a long time from now, your own hair will glow silver in the sun. And when that day comes, love, you will remember me."
SOMEDAY
by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Peter H Reynolds - Simon & Schuster, 2007
ages 4 years to grown-up / coffee table, heartwarmers
