National Network for Equitable Library Service

If Clement C. Moore had described the night before Mother’s Day instead of Christmas, he might have written about burned breakfast, muddy footprints, leaky clay teacups, smelly soaps and glittery cards — all the trappings of Mother’s Day. In The Night Before Mother’s Day, MacLeod and Horacek share the innermost thoughts rattling around in mom’s head as she lies in bed the night before. From the messy kitchen shelf (that the husband and children assume gets cleaned by itself) to the brooding vampires on the D.V.D., mom silently ponders what it might be like if she transformed into a sharp-fanged member of the undead. Who can she turn to in such an hour of need, when she’d rather make each member of her own family bleed? Why her mother, of course! “You’ve had a hard day, dear?” / Her mother would guess, / “Of handcrafted presents? / And mayhem? And mess? / “Well, come around later, / Let’s both drink some tea— / From leaky clay teacups / You once gave to me.” Celebrating the nostalgia and common experience of motherhood, The Night Before Mother’s Day is an illustrated ode to the trials and tribulations (and occasional familial bloodlust) that mom expertly navigates 365 days of the year.