I love the idea of this book and the message. The illustrations were a bit of a miss for me. It would have been nice to see a variety of sizes or moms, not just Barbie-esque looking mothers. But I did appreciate the message and it would be helpful for kids to understand why mommy has to work.

This book could kids understand that it’s norms, for mommy to go to work. It shows multiple ways that women work and helps break stereotypes.

Happy Friday everyone! It is the last day of vacation before we return back to digital learning next week, and my kids are celebrating by taking over my book reviews! What are we reading today? My kids and I read the book Mommies Work by Kristin Cowart Pierce.

Bit of a backstory: before the pandemic, both my husband and I worked full time and my kids went to a local daycare. My daughter loved the days her friends were there, but the rare day that she was alone, she would cry and work my mom guilt over why she couldn't stay home with me. Enter the pandemic - boom! She's home full time with us! All summer we juggled me working and caring for them, until she started Kindergarten and I quit my job to focus on caring for them.

When I began reading this to them, my daughter looked at me strange and said "but you stay home now." Well lo and behold, it addresses moms that stay home - BECAUSE IT IS HARD WORK! The book discusses the many places mom can work, and how we do still think about our kids while we are away.

This book was a great way to speak to my kids about why mommy works, and how I feel when I am away from them. We walked through the sports they used to do before the pandemic, we talked about the food and clothes. My son piped up "TOYS!" That went down a different rabbit hole, as then we discussed the toys they got for Christmas.

I asked my daughter a little later if she liked the book, and she said she did. She was wondering if I would work again. We talked more about her digital learning, and how I probably wouldn't be returning to work until after summer vacation next year, when my son becomes eligible for preschool and hopefully life will be returning to some type of new normal.

So for moms who work - this book is for you! I think it was a great conversation starter to find out how my kids truly felt about mommy working, and to reassure them that mommy still thinks . But it had an added benefit of also showing my daughter that she can be ANYTHING SHE PUTS HER MIND TO! Naturally, she wants to be a "waiter and then after taking the order I will cook the food! Maybe I just want to cook the food. You can come to my restaurant too and I will cook for you! But you have to pay." Ok! I like this plan!

What does my son want to be? He wants to put together birthday parties, which caused my daughter to scream "I WILL MAKE THE CAKES FOR IT!" They ran off to go put together a birthday party and bake in their play kitchen. I can hear my son shouting "CUPCAKES" while I type.

And that is how a new business idea was born. Go for it kids! While you are preparing, I will be at work!

This book tries to discuss the reasons a child's mom is at work, and what kinds of work they might do during the day. It tries to reinforce that they are thinking about their children during the day, and can't wait to see them again.

I think this would be an excellent book to read to a child struggling with separation anxiety, or as a way to explain to a young child why mom will be returning to the workforce soon.

I did notice a little diversity of race and ethnicity, but none in the way of size - every mom looked skinny as a rail. And apparently there are no men in the world that "mommy" is out working in, which I found a bit odd.

Little one's wonder where mommies go when they leave for work. Where do they go? This sweet book explains why Mommies leave and don't stay home and play all day with them.

"Mommies Work" highlights the life of working mothers. It showcases the modes of transportation that mother's use and gives a glimpse into some of the jobs that mothers partake in. I love the fact that some mother's are able and choose to stay home which is a great choice too.

Written in rhyme with fabulous upbeat illustrations the positive message affirms that no matter what profession a mother aspires to it ultimately is for the good of her family and also for herself. This book will spark conversations of a variety of careers and feelings about how both mommy and child feel when she steps away from home and into her workplace. I highly recommend this book.

Mommies work is a wonderful book that talks rather illustrates about mother’s work. It’s simple language and vibrant illustrations make the book an immediate hit with kids.

Narrations like ‘mommies can be anything they want to be’; ‘At the end of the mommies hurry home… for a hug and a kiss and to cuddle up close’ are quite positive vibes about working mothers.

Definitely, a book I want my ten-year-old daughter to read and enjoy.

Fantastic illustrations that really have lots of detail. As a working mum, this book really hits home. Can’t wait to read it to my little ones.

This is now one of my top five children’s books!

As a mom who works full time outside of the house I am SO happy to see a book explain to kids that Mommies can have real jobs too, and that we can work in a wide variety of careers. The illustrations are also phenomenal!

The only criticism I have of this book is that it’s priced pretty high. When I read this on NG I immediately went to buy it for all my working mom friends but at $19.99 a pop it’s a little much. $12.99, $14.99 maybe... still expensive for a kids book but well worth it. $19.99 is a stretch.

This is a story about where mommies go when they go to work. As a working mom myself I was looking for a book that I could share with my girls to help explain what I do. It's a good book but kind of missed the mark for me. It seemed kind of lacking. I get that it's about mommies but men are in the world too and the drawings out and about in the city only show women. The book just seemed to be missing substance.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion.

This is a good children’s book with positive messages about working mums that also acknowledges that children are important to IM’s who have to work. The illustrations were pleasing.

This was an enjoyable book. It is perfect for helping to explain to kids why mommies work and what kind of work they may do. As a mom that works from home, I don’t really feel the illustrations accurately represent most working women.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #LanierPress for the #gifted copy of the book.

Young kids, parenting, family

I really enjoyed reading this book. As a mom who had suffered majorly with separation anxiety with my daughter when I had to go back to work that I eventually had to become a Stay-at-Home-Mom, I believe this book did an amazing job at giving both mom/parent and child ease of mind when mommy has to work.

I also enjoyed the fun wording that gave off a rhyming type feel and also how the book gives a good message on how mommies can be whatever they want to be, I don’t know, but it just spoke to me.

I love how the illustration is more like fashion illustration than a picture book, and remember fondly how I loved looking at these kinds of stylish pictures or illustrations while growing up. This tells us the life of working mommies, how they get to work (train, car, airplane etc) and where they work (tall office building, home, school, hospital etc). It also tells kids that although mommies are busy working and away from their children, they are always thinking of them. A great way to start a conversation on work/life.

A short and sweet book about mommies working. I can see this as the perfect board book for little readers, being read to by their mommies
-before they go back to work or by caregivers. The illustrations are wonderful and colors catch the eye.
I will say the one turn off is that all the mommies resembled Barbies- all narrow shapes, “perfect” hair, and sharp facial features.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Mommies work is a beautifully illustrated children's book examining in short poetic sentences why mummy's go out to work. I think I loved the pictures in this book more than my daughter :-).
The book helps children to understand why Mummy's go to work, what they do and if they think about them or miss them and how they travel to work.
I wish I looked half as glam as the mummy's in this book!

Mommies Work by Kristin Cowart Pierce provides an understanding of the wide variety of occupations mothers can have. Each location is illustrated in amazing accuracy with detailed modern moms dressed fashionably. This book also does show that work can also occur at home where a mom is shown caring for her children. As a mom of a child with autism I appreciate the detailed care shown to this topic. He often needs social stories to understand concepts that are not experienced directly by himself. The mom’s are shown multitasking and still being involved with their children from afar. The book closes with a reassurance that despite whatever job mom’s have during the day the favorite job is returning to and caring for their children.

I was provided a free advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review from Net Galley. The opinions shared in this review are my own.

Enjoyed this quick read, a children’s book designed to explain to kids what their “mommies” are doing while at work, and what the life of a working mom is like. I can imagine this book would be great for a new mom going back to work to read to children or for a mother who works a busy job. It’s didactic enough to explain to children what their mom is doing when she leaves for the day, and the value in that. The book explains that mommies work so they can help the family out! I can see myself wanting this book someday if I am a working mother. I also think it’s great there’s a children’s book here that is adding to the modern normalization of mothers working a 9-5 (or more), rather than the “traditional” narrative of only dad going to work (which we all know is no longer realistic or true!)

My critique of this book would be the way in which the artist chose to depict the mommies in the book. The characters who are the mothers in this book are depicted as a normative, white, very skinny and beautiful mother. While I get this was a stylistic choice, more effort could’ve been made to include more plus-size, POC, not traditionally feminine mommies. I’m not sure all children can connect to the book given these visuals!

Overall I’d think before recommending this book to any mother or parent looking to explain working to their children, because of the visuals. Children need to see themselves as well as their parents accurately represented from the start of childhood.

This book was absolutely perfect!

My Sister just returned to the workforce and my nephew is having a hard time with it. We sat down and read this together. It was very cute and easy for little ones to understand. After we were done he told his sister, 'Mommy goes to work to help our family.'

This is a book with a nice message about working mothers. Some of the lines read a bit jarringly, like there was a problem with the flow of the wording, which impacted my reading experience slightly. And while I loved the illustrations as an adult, I'm less sure they'd be engaging to children. It also would've been nice to see more diversity in terms of body size (all the mothers were willowy thin), and it seemed a bit odd to me that one of images depicted a mom serving dinner to her family, presumably after a long day at work, while the dad just sat there doing nothing. Maybe he's a stay-at-home dad or something else was trying to be portrayed in terms of family dynamic, but the story text doesn't say and it was something I snagged on.

Overall, I think this book might be more effective as a gift for working moms who want to feel validated and celebrated than as a story to read to children.

A cute read for me as a new mom. This is a book I definitely would purchase and share with my son. The illustrations are beautiful!