Mama Zooms (GR Level I)

In this remarkable book, a little boy makes the world a place full of excitement. After all, his mother's wheelchair as he sees it, is a "zooming machine," a vehicle capable of carrying him and his mother as far as his imagination will allow.

Every morning his father sets him in his mother's lap, and with her strong arms pushing away, the two of them are off on their latest adventure. Zooming across the lawn, his mother becomes his racehorse, and the little boy a champion jockey. When it rains, his mother zooms through puddles like a ship at sea, and the little boy stands at the helm as her captain. When they zoom through a dark hallway, he lights the way, just like the engineer of a freight train chugging its way through a tunnel. Under a night sky, his mother lifts off like a spaceship that rockets him to the stars.

Jane Cowen-Fletcher's book was inspired by her sister, a wheelchair mom and practicing veterinarian, who was left a paraplegic after a 1987 accident. Cowen-Fletcher's illustrations are warm and rich with spirit and beautifully depict the special bond the little boy has with his mother. If there is one lesson to learn from this memorable book, it is that the power of the imagination is an amazing thing