Just Like a Mama by Alice Faye Duncan (review)

“I live with Mama Rose right now. She is just like a mama to me,” says our protagonist, who then goes on to describe her warm and affectionate life with the caretaker who cuddles her, lectures her, celebrates her, and wants the best for her. The girl is honest that she wishes she lived with her mother and father, who “live far away,” but she’s matter-of-fact about living with Mama Rose, whom she loves. It’s a sympathetic take on a common childhood situation, and while the friendly text is more description than plot, it will open up space for listeners to think or talk about their own experiences with non-parental caregivers. Barlow’s mixed-media art radiates cheer in its balanced compositions drawing on lively patterning and in its warm African-American intentional family; our gap-toothed protagonist is a sturdy figure with expressive eyebrows, while Mama Rose is a lady with a sharp sense of style and a clear devotion to her young charge. It’s a particularly nice touch that the little girl (accompanied by what look to be her parents) features prominently in Mama Rose’s stairwell photo-gallery, a visual motif echoed on the scrapbooky endpapers. This will be a natural inclusion in a discussion of families, and it will validate the multitudes of kids living with loving non–birth parent guardians. An author’s note describes the phenomenon of “fictive kin,” voluntary kinship relationships that operate like family in the African-American community, and dedicates her book to the “fictive kin, adoptive parents, and guardians who have chosen to love and care for a child.”