I Wrote a Book With My Mom
And people seem to like it! An added bonus!
Here’s the thing about my mom—literally everyone likes her more than they like me. My friends, my booksellers, my children. It’s probably a tie for my husband, but everyone else, my mom wins handily. I mean, look at her! If you are a small child, she will let you cover her face with stickers. How can you argue with that?
Her name is Susan but when my children were born, she decided that she would become Gaga, and Gaga she has become. We all call her Gaga now—she introduces herself as Gaga and often makes a joke, upon first saying it, that she is Gaga so that when she goes gaga, she will already be Gaga.
There is an inherent humor and gaga-ness to being Gaga. I think grandmother is someone who won’t let you sit on the nice furniture, and gramma is someone with a large bosom who is often wearing an apron, and Gigi is a lady with a lot of plastic surgery on the Upper East Side who doesn’t like to be reminded of her age. Gaga, on the other hand, is a goddamn party. Gaga knows how to have a good time.
My mom and I wrote Gaga Mistake Day together because we know the world needs all the Gaga it can get. Jessica Love drew the pictures, and as you probably know, Jess is the reigning queen of grandmother books. (Julian is a Mermaid forever.) The book is more beautiful than we could have ever imagined, and it will make you cry and also give you good child-rearing ideas.
The book is out on April 9th, but you can (and should!) preorder it now. In order to help convince you to do so, here is some more evidence of my mom being totally, beautifully Gaga.
Listen, I could do this literally all day long. But you don’t have to listen to me! Here’s what Kirkus had to say!
KIRKUS REVIEWS 2/15/25
GAGA MISTAKE DAY
Author: Emma Straub
Author: Susan Straub
Illustrator: Jessica Love
Grandma’s so-called errors are enough to drive anyone gaga—but in the best possible way.
On Saturdays, when Gaga visits her 4-year-old grandchild—who narrates the story—she “makes lots of mistakes.” Sometimes she wears her fuzzy slippers on her ears. Or she and her grandchild switch their eyeglasses so neither of them can see a thing. Or she substitutes a chocolate bar for chewing gum, rationalizing, “Isn’t that gum? You can chew it.” Gaga sees nothing wrong in reading an upside-down book to the child. On treks to the park, the pair walk backward. Occasionally, the protagonist’s parents disapprove of Gaga’s ideas, such as feeding their child marshmallows before dinner or filling the tub to overflowing with soap bubbles. But grandchild and Gaga agree that “mistakes are fun, aren’t they?” This is a gently comical tribute to warm, deeply loving grandmother-grandchild relationships. Gaga clearly understands that adults can easily form close bonds with kids if they use humor, behave in a childlike manner themselves, and appreciate a youngster’s sense of wonder and absurdity. The message here is that more grown-ups should make the “mistake” of loosening up a bit. The dynamic pencil, watercolor, and gouache illustrations are as free-wheeling and entertaining as gray-haired Gaga, who is pale-skinned; the protagonists and the parents are brown-skinned.
Who wouldn’t love spending time with a memorable grandmother like this? (Picture book. 4-7)
And here’s Publisher’s Weekly!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 1/12/24
Emma and Susan Straub, illus. by Jessica Love. Rocky Pond, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-593-52946-1
Gaga, the glamorous grandmother of this book’s young narrator, revels in defying convention throughout a rollicking familial portrait by mother-daughter Susan (Reading with Babies, Toddlers & Twos, for adults) and Emma Straub (Very Good Hats). Cataloging the ways that Gaga turns things upside down when visiting her grandchild each week, the child begins broadly: “She makes lots of mistakes.” When grandmother and grandchild walk to the park, “Gaga makes up silly rules, like we can only walk backwards the whole way, or we can only walk on cracks in the sidewalk.” When the child, portrayed with light brown skin, teaches pale-skinned Gaga ballet moves, Gaga “does them all wonky.” Gaga sometimes annoys the grandchild’s parents by being generous with marsh- mallows before dinner, and filling the tub at bath time with mountains of bubbles that have to be mopped up. (“Mistakes are fun, aren’t they?” Gaga says.) As the Straubs highlight with panache the importance—and pleasure—of breaking the rules, Love (A Bed of Stars) captures Gaga’s Auntie Mame–style dash, spontaneity, and sartorial splendor, and the air of conspiratorial delight that she and her grandchild share. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)
Here is our photo shoot from this morning. We have one copy so far between the two of us, but as you can see, we’re going to milk it.
Listen, it’s Gaga’s world. We’re just living in it.
Smash that pre-order button now. You do not want to disappoint this woman.
Congrats you guys! The book and Gaga sound utterly wonderful. Your description of her reminds me so much of my mum and how she was with all the grandkids. She would do things the kids found outrageous and she would have the cheekiest glint in her eye. She really embraced the joy, fun and magic of being a grandparent without having the worry of the parent rules! Also incredibly loving. I’m so glad you’ve made this book!’
This makes me so happy!!!!! So sweet.