Mama Zooms

Cowen-Fletcher, J. (1993). Mama Zooms. New York: Scholastic Book Services.

Jane Cowen-Fletcher is the author of Mama Zooms. She has written at least ten other books besides this story. It was difficult to find her personal website or information about her, but there were a wide variety of sources for book reviews. She received positive reviews from every source I examined. Her books have also been published in Spanish. Her books seem to be focused toward younger readers and she often writes about families, relationships, and development.

Mama Zooms is a book for young readers. It chronicles the adventures of a small boy and his mother. The story, told from the child’s perspective, features a wide variety of make-believe escapades that he and his mother go on in her “zooming machine”. We find out that the zooming machine is actually a wheelchair. Throughout the book, the mother is depicted as adventurous and fun-loving, with “very strong arms from all our zooming” (21). This book portrays the child’s mother as capable and confident. She is not hindered by the fact that she is a woman or the fact that she has a disability. In the illustrations, the mother and son are pictured smiling and have a close bond. The father is present in the book. He is seen briefly at the beginning. At the end of the story, we can see that the family has a strong support system as the father and son help push the mother’s wheelchair up a steep hill. The last illustration shows the family together with the little boy sitting on his mother’s lap, holding his father’s hand.

This book is an excellent choice for young readers for a variety of reasons. The mother-son relationship is portrayed as loving and healthy. Although the father is not seen throughout most of the story, he is shown as supportive and the family functions well together. The mother is a positive female role model. This book can also be used to educate children about loved ones with disabilities. The only issue of concern was the fact that the father was absent throughout most of the book, which is common in children’s literature. However, the strength and positivity of the mother as a role model, despite her disability, outweighs this concern, especially since the family seems to function well as a supportive unit when the father is present.