Mom & Me & Mom: tribute by Maya Angelou

Angelou has given us the opportunity to read much of her life, but here she unveils her relationship with her mother for the first time. True to her style, the writing cuts to the chase with compression and simplicity, and there in the background is a calypso smoothness, flurries and showers of musicality between the moments of wickedness. And wickedness abounds, for Angelou had a knack for picking bad men. But the pivot of the book is her mother--first called lady, then mother and finally mom--who sent Angelou and her brother to live with their grandmother when Angelou was 3. By the time her older brother was capable of getting into serious trouble as an independent-minded black man in the American South, they were shipped back to their mother, who was as ready as she would ever be. She had been around, ran a few gambling houses and picked up plenty of worldly wisdom, which she dispensed to Angelou: "Power and determination…with those two things, you can go anywhere and everywhere"; "If you don't protect yourself, you look like a fool asking somebody else to protect you." Though readers may not sense that her mother was not the most reliable force in her life, Angelou knew enough to grab the most from what she had: "She was there with me. She had my back, supported me. This is the role of the mother….She stands between the known and the unknown." Strung through the narrative are intense episodes in Angelou's personal progress, from those disappointing-to-terrifying boyfriends, a seriously ugly meeting with her father and stepmother, her days as a prostitute and her incandescent relationships with her brother and her son. A tightly strung, finely tuned memoir about life with her mother. (Kirkus Reviews)

Past interview with ABCNews:

A Mother's Love

Elevate the Everyday by Tracey Clark

Turn the everyday into the extraordinary with Elevate the Everyday, renowned photographer and blogger Tracey Clark's guide to documenting motherhood. Focusing on the beauty of ordinary moments, Tracey offers inspirational ideas that will jump start your photographic energies and enable you to see your children and yourself in a new way through the lens of your camera. (Publisher Summary)

The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison

The Gift of an Ordinary Day is an intimate memoir of a family in transition-boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, an attempt to find a deeper sense of place, and a slower pace, in a small New England town. It is a story of mid-life longings and discoveries, of lessons learned in the search for home and a new sense of purpose, and the bittersweet intensity of life with teenagers--holding on, letting go. (Publisher Summary)

Chicken Soup for the Mother and Daughter Soul by Jack Canfiel

For new moms in awe of their daughter's first step, veteran moms in a panic as their daughter leaves for her first prom, or seasoned moms who have just caught themselves saying "Because I said so!", each will be touched and inspired by these heartwarming stories that share the life-defining moments of the mother/daughter relationship. (Publisher Summary)

Momfulness by Denise Roy

Denise Roy combines the hard-won wisdom of a parent with the insights of meditation to create a spiritual practice that goes to the heart of everyday life: mothering with mindfulness. Through anecdotes, reflections, and specific practices, this book invites mothers to wake up and embrace their lives, discovering that they are always standing on holy ground. (Publisher Summary)

Chicken Soup for Every Mom's Soul by Jack Canfield

Motherhood is a lifelong journey that's as unique as every woman who embarks on it. These stories are for every mom, whether you're an expectant or an adoptive mom, a stay-at-home or working mom, or a grandmother watching your grandchildren grow. Share this book with any mom to remind her of the profound role she will forever play in her child's life. (Publisher Summary)

Mother-Daughter Movies by Rosemary Rogers and Nell Rogers Michlin

A mother-daughter team draws on more than two decades of joint movie-going experience to describe 101 of their all-time favorite movies, offering whimsical ratings, plot synopses, cast reviews, and behind-the-scenes gossip about the films.Wise and witty, Mother-Daughter Movies offers a fresh perspective on life's most important issues---from family conflict to surviving high school to understanding when tweezed eyebrows can totally change your life. (Publisher Summary)

Bonding over Beauty by Erika Katz

Provides advice for mothers of tween girls on age-appropriate hair, skin care, make-up, nutrition, and other health and beauty issues and on how sharing such matters can strengthen relationships as the girls grow into their teens and open the doors of communication and give you great bonding activities for you to do with your daughter. (Publisher Summary)

What my Mother Gave me by Elizabeth Benedict

In What My Mother Gave Me, women look at the relationships between mothers and daughters through a new lens: a daughter’s story of a gift from her mother that has touched her to the bone and served as a model, a metaphor, or a touchstone in her own life. The contributors of these thirty-one original pieces include Pulitzer Prize winners, perennial bestselling novelists, and celebrated broadcast journalists. (Publisher Summary)