Genre
African American fiction
Picture books for children
Storyline
Own voices
Tone
Sweet
Theme
All kinds of families
Celebrating identity
Subject
African American children
American people
Familial love
Foster children
Foster mothers
Girls
North American people
Parent-separated children
Character
Black

Good story. ( )

"Mommy and Daddy live miles away.
I wish we lived together.
Maybe one day that will be.
I live with Mama Rose right now.
She is just like a mama to me."

The child narrator describes how Mama Rose is "just like a mama" in every way - she teaches her, encourages her, makes sure she does her chores and eats her vegetables, gets her birthday presents. Even though the girl misses her parents, Mama Rose fills the role with love.

An author's note relates personal history ("I believe it is love that defines our relationships") as well as an explanation of "fictive kin" ("chosen or voluntary kinships [that give] lives stability and meaning"). ( )

"Because Carol Oliva Clementine cannot live with Mommy and Daddy, the child lives with Mama Rose.

Carol Oliva Clementine, a light-brown–skinned child with a sandy-red afro puff, describes life with Mama Rose, a dark-skinned black woman. Readers don’t learn why Carol Oliva Clementine came to live with Mama Rose. While readers also aren’t told how long they’ve lived together, Carol Oliva Clementine describes two birthdays with Mama Rose: the fifth, when the child received a watch and learned to tell time, and the sixth, when Mama Rose gave her little one a yellow bicycle. Carol Olivia Clementine is presented as a happy and carefree little child who misses Mommy and Daddy but is also happy to live with Mama Rose, who lovingly calls the child Lady Bug. The illustrations are bright and playful, conveying the deep warmth of affection between the two. One spread in which Mama Rose does her charge’s hair and then swaddles Carol Olivia Clementine for winter play bears out the truth of the title. It is curious, however, that Carol Olivia Clementine and Mama Rose wear the same clothing throughout the book even though multiple seasons pass. In an author’s note, Duncan tells of her own experience with a kinship adoption.

A beautiful story of love and kinship, so needed for the many children living apart from their nuclear families." From Kirkus Reviews, www.kirkusreviews.com