DEAR MOTHER, DEAR DAUGHTER, Poems for Young People Written with Jane Yolen Illustrations by Gill Ashby Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press 2001 ISBN # 1-56397-886-5 Hardcover

This is a book of poems written as notes first from the daughter (written by me) and responded to by the mother (written by my mother, Jane Yolen). The subjects of these notes/poems range from wanting to pierce ears, needing a raise in allowance, feeling fat, to the death of a grandmother and seeing a gun in a school locker. Some are written in rhyme and others are non-rhyming. There are 17 pairs of poems and each one was written over the internet, with me writing my poem and emailing it my mother either in Massachusetts or in Scotland. Since we both enjoy writing poetry-especially silly ones-this was a lot of fun for us. Boyds Mills Press is bringing it out in 2001 and will then be the official publishing house of the Yolen-Stemple family having published books by my mother, both brothers, ( Adam a musician and Jason a photographer) and recently buying the rights to re-publish High Ridge Gobbler by my father, David Stemple.

See what Jane Yolen has to say about this book.

It was a Spring 2001 ABA Kids' Pick of the Lists, and has also been chosen as one of the Bank Street College of Education's Best Children's Books of the Year.

Available in Hardcover

         

A Mother/Daughter Bookclub who invited me to join them in Longmeadow, MA.
Maddison and I (lower Right) read our favorite poem set and they read us theirs.

This Mother Daughter Book Club in Syracuse, NY read Dear Mother, Dear Daughter

What reviewers have said:

"Mother-daughter team Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple use an inventive (and humorous) format in Dear Mother, Dear Daughter: Poems for Young People, illustrated by Gil Ashby. Daughter addresses mother in a poem on the left, and mother addresses daughter on the right, debating issues such as homework, weight, sports and romantic crushes." -- Publishers Weekly

"Readers will enjoy ... the mother and daughter voices--chatty, warm, irritated, angry--and the family vignettes." -- Booklist

"Dear Mother, Dear Daughter offers a creative, problem-solving communications tool in the form of 17 beguiling coming-of-age poems that will make you smile, chuckle, and even shed a tear. ... If improved communication with your children is your goal, and you're looking for a fresh approach, don't pass this one up. It will help you bridge the generation gap and build mutual respect." -- Bookpage

"Seventeen pairs of poems define the push and pull between preteen and parent as the younger anguishes and matures and the older advises and nourishes. Each two-page set offers a poem that Stemple has written to her mother in a daughter's voice on such sources of adolescent angst as homework, self-consciousness, bedtime, self-assurance, or insufficient allowance. Yolen's motherly response on the facing page is firm, but understanding; critical, but complimentary; advisory, but empathetic. Pencil sketches show girls of various cultures, accompanied on some pages by the sort of amateurish doodles (and the inherent smeary, cluttered look) that might be found in a school notebook. Girls will feel a kinship with the younger poet's words and feelings and will welcome the mother's insights and loving discipline." -- School Library Journal

"In addition to providing wonderful poetry for young adolescent females, Yolen and Stemple have given us a book that generations of mothers and daughters, no matter what stage of life they are at, will enjoy sharing. Highly Recommended." -- from Editor's Pick (starred review) of Book Report

"... an excellent resource for reading aloud...Highly recommended." -- Catholic Library World

"Acclaimed storyteller Jane Yolen and her grown daughter Heidi Stemple trade words in Dear Mother, Dear Daughter, a collection of paired poems. Stemple provides the young daughter's voice in the lead poem on each double-page spread and brings up subjects such as homework, crushes, phone calls, to which Yolen's mother poem replies. The poems explore the gamut of emotions, sadness, jubilation, anxiety, and the tone ranges, very believably, from tenderness to a plaintive whine. Gil Ashby's black-and-white illustrations add to the mood without overwhelming the short poems. Who knows, this book may inspire a child/parent poem dialogue in your family." -- Childrens Literature

"...these poems provide a springboard for class discussions about common growing-up dilemmas." -- The Mailbox Bookbag

"...a book of poetry that addresses various adolescent issues...the wisdom of good advice given from mother to daughter, and the struggle of a young girl to gain her independence as she grows into an adult." -- Reading Teacher

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