MAMA CAR

A child describes the many functions of Mama’s wheelchair.

“Daddy has a big car,” the young narrator explains, but “Mama has a Mama Car”: a manual wheelchair. The Mama Car transports Mama (and, when the child is “being little,” the narrator on Mama’s lap) on “expeditions” to the kitchen for breakfast-in-bed supplies and provides opportunities for artistic expression as the narrator decorates its wheels with colorful shapes. When the family makes “BIG expeditions to big places in the big car,” the Mama Car “squashes up in the back and I can wave to it.” And after falling off a “SPIKY” tricycle, the narrator “curl[s] into” the Mama Car for comfort: “The Mama Car is warm and I just have Mama all around me.” Catchpole, who based the story on her daughter’s nickname for her wheelchair, gently presents disability as a natural part of family life. As the narrator snuggles with Mama in bed or cuddles “cozy as a sheep” in Mama’s lap, George’s simple, soft-toned cartoon illustrations underscore the best thing about the Mama Car: “It has Mama.” Youngsters adjusting to a parent’s wheelchair use will be particularly reassured by the matter-of-fact text, but all readers will enjoy the cheery tone and warm parent-and-child relationship. The family is light-skinned; Daddy has one leg and uses forearm crutches.

An endearing child’s-eye view of a parent’s disability.