A Celebration of Mothers

by: Helen Steiner Rice

Published by: Barbour Publishing

Reviewed by Muhammed Hassanali

Motherhood has been celebrated in many different ways and with many different media. A Celebration of Mothers is one more addition to this rich repertoire. The cover features an impressionist painting, and the same painting adorns the high-gloss pages inside. It has the feel of a coffee-table book, except it is much smaller and thinner than one.

Apart from the introduction, the book is divided into five sections. The sections are: A Mother’s Heart, A Mother’s Joy, A Mother’s Prayer, A Mother’s Hope, and A Mother’s Blessing. Each section starts with two inspirational quotes; the first is from a secular source and the second is from the Bible. Each two-page spread can be viewed independently. On the left page is a poem penned by Rice and on the right is a short (two to three paragraphs) essay. Each essay starts with a quote from the Bible. The poem and essay are closely related in that the message they carry is almost identical. Each poem and essay carries its own title.

The content talks to mothers, mothers-to-be, and children about primarily the spiritual aspects of mothers, motherhood, and most of all about Love. While I enjoyed the poems best of all, the essays are also inspirational. This book would be a great Mother’s Day gift, or a gift anytime for mothers or mothers-to-be. It can also be a reference for those tender moments when one craves just the right words to express oneself. One of the poems starts with:

It’s not the things that can be bought that are life’s richest treasures –

It’s just the little “heart gifts” that money cannot measure.

It does include motherly love, but its main focus seems to be love and compassion that are manifested in acts of thoughtfulness and kindness, which are truly the “treasures.”

Armchair Interviews agrees.