Mothers, Motherhood, and Mothering in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
In their introduction to Mothers in Children’s and Young Adult Literature: From the Eighteenth Century to Postfeminism (2016), Karen Coats and Lisa Rowe Fraustino observe that “[w]hether living or dead, present or absent, sadly dysfunctional or happily good enough, the figure of the mother carries an enormous amount of freight across the emotional and intellectual life of a child” (3).