Made With Love By Mummy Book Review

 

Author: Poppy Meadows 

Illustrator: AI

Publisher: Independently Published

Released: April 9, 2025

Format: Paperback

Genre: Juvenile Fiction

ISBN: 979-8314397091

Page Count: 30 pages

Price: $13.29

Age Range: 2-6 years

Reading Level: Kindergarten-1st

Reviewer: Ellwyn Autumn

Rating:  3 Lemon Drops

A cute rhyming story about one mother’s venture into motherhood through IVF.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from Reedsy and agreed to give an honest review.

Review:

Book Summary: 

Made With Love By Mummy follows the journey of one mother as she conceives and prepares for motherhood. Throughout the text, the mother displays unconditional love. The mother’s dedication to her son’s physical and emotional health shines through, from pregnancy to his toddler years.

Opinion:

I appreciated the story’s focus on diverse family structures. Multi-racial, single-parent, and same-sex families are shown happily expressing love for one another.

The story is complemented by the vibrant illustrations. However, subtle inconsistencies between the mother and son’s appearances made me suspect AI image generation. From my experience as a children’s author, I recognize the vital role of the human artist in picture books. 

Diverse representation is now more critical than ever given our current polarized society. Quality stories are crucial for teaching children about empathy, diversity, and acceptance. That goal is achieved by this book.

I review books through an educational lens. Things I consider: Would I read this to my Pre-K/Kindergarten class? Is there value in the story that will teach my kiddos something new or reinforce a concept or skill?

I analyze the story by focusing on some of the key elements that I taught my students during a read aloud: characters, plot, language, setting and illustrations. Other characteristics I look for are text quality and theme.

Characters:

When analyzing a story with students, the characters should be genuine, relatable and elicit emotion. This story’s depiction of a mother’s love for her son is both beautiful and real. The characters, as noted before, are diverse, inclusive and radiate joy.

Plot:

In a Pre-K/Kindergarten classroom, we describe the plot as the Beginning-Middle-End. Some stories present better examples of this concept, but many offer rich opportunities to explore various story elements.

The illustrations clearly show this story’s plotline progressing from beginning to middle to end. The story starts with conception, progresses through pregnancy, and concludes with moments of tender love.

Setting:

The story takes place in several locations, including the mother’s home, the doctor’s office, and the park. In every location, the mother is present. Typically, people aren’t the setting of a story, but in this case, I think the story’s true setting is the mother’s heart.

Language:

Vocabulary is key in children’s books. It’s one of the critical elements I taught my kiddos before each reading. I’d focus on five key words and develop an understanding of the words through the read aloud and related activities.

Fun, descriptive words in the story vividly recall the tenderness of early motherhood. One of my favorite lines, “Tiny toes in bubbly streams, First bath fills the night with dreams.”

Text:

This story’s loving message gains a musical quality through its simple rhyming scheme. The poem’s easy rhyme scheme flows nicely and sounds good until a sudden change on page 9 disrupts the pattern. It interrupted the lovely experience of the story for me.

Theme:

Illustrations and text combine to abundantly express the theme of family love on every page.

In short, this heartwarming story celebrates families of all types. While I was tempted to give it five stars, the jarring rhyming section on page nine and the AI-generated images, prevented me from doing so. 

I give it 3 Lemon Drops!