It's Complicated: Books With Complex Mother-Daughter Relationships by Ms.LaGarde https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m Please include title/author and appropriate audience. Thanks! en-us 2017-03-08 22:59:12 UTC 2025-10-04 00:01:16 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Removelove.png Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina jlagarde https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158836182 Mom is a victim of mental and physical abuse by her son. The story's protagonist struggles to understand her mother's denial of the situation. Beautifully wrought. For 8th grade + ]]> 2017-03-08 23:05:36 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158836182 Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon jlagarde https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158836560 Maddie struggles with a mother who is willing to do anything protect her from both the real, and perceived, dangers waiting for Maddie outside her hermetically sealed bedroom. Best for HS students, I think. ]]> 2017-03-08 23:09:04 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158836560 Girl In Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow jlagarde https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158836927 Charlie's estranged and volatile relationship with her mother is one of many reasons why she ends up on the streets, alone, and feeling as though self harm is her only remaining options. High School Students (fans of Ellen Hopkins books).]]> 2017-03-08 23:12:31 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158836927 Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers coxt5 https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158837801 The relationship between Claire and her mom as told through notes to each other. Upper middle and high school. ]]> 2017-03-08 23:20:43 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158837801 The Bridge Ladies by Betsy Lerner burbagek https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158838410 Why are we reduced to our teenage selves almost every time we're with our mother? Loved this memoir for adult readers. "Snatching clothes from the dryer before they wrinkle: a technique my mother has elevated to an art form."

]]> 2017-03-08 23:25:59 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158838410 From Novelist Plus https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158839227
Book description

To the outside world, Robin is a girl that has it all. Why then does she find herself slumped in front of the TV, night after night, watching reruns of her famous mom's show? It doesn't make sense to anyone, least of all Robin. Looking for answers, Robin travels to Port Minton, Nova Scotia, her mom's home town, finally finding answers to some long hidden family secrets.

Age level:  teen fiction

Genre:

Canadian fiction, first person narratives, coming-of-age stories

Subject Headings:  

Family secrets, self-esteem in teenage girls

]]> 2017-03-08 23:35:49 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158839227 JaneLofton https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158839821 Tell Me Something Real by Calla Devlin

Vanessa and her three sisters are all dealing, in their different ways, with their mother's leukemia when a new piece of information further complicates their relationship with her. 

Age level: young adult]]> 2017-03-08 23:42:43 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158839821 The Joy Luck Club https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158840503 By Amy Tan]]> 2017-03-08 23:52:09 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158840503 One Crazy Summ https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158841033 By Tita Williams-Garcia]]> 2017-03-08 23:58:08 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158841033 Wintergirls librarianwithjoe https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158845377 By Laurie Halse Anderson

An 18-year-old struggles with anorexia, the death of her best friend and an estranged relationship with her physician mother.  

Age level: YA]]> 2017-03-09 00:43:26 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158845377 They Left Us Everything by Plum Johnson burbagek https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158852784 In  this memoir set in Canada, Johnson shares her caretaking experiences with her cantankerous mother.  Funny & touching. 
For adult readers.]]> 2017-03-09 01:56:49 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158852784 Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158854415 Addie lives with her mom in a trailer park with her mom, who is bipolar. She is looking for some sort of normal life, but there is only uncertainty. Peripheral characters are great. Deals with tough issues. The recommended age is grades 5-7, but could be good all the way up to 9th. ]]> 2017-03-09 02:17:11 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158854415 The Glass Castle imagreer https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158857095 This memoir explores the relationship between Jeanette Walls and her mother whose selfish tendencies and mental illness place her family in situations such as homelessness. The daughter is forced to become the woman of the house caring for all, including her mother. This is a great read for high school students.]]> 2017-03-09 02:48:47 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158857095 All the Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry bjneary2 https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158916893 Judith is abducted & when she returns the small mindedness of this community  is her mother hates her, her brother calls her Worm, the town thinks she is a whore. Historical fiction for teens looking at truth, family & fear of neighbors. ]]> 2017-03-09 10:37:34 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158916893 Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams bjneary2 https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158919269 How will Hope reconcile the mom she knew with the mom her sister Lizzy knows? YA novel in verse]]> 2017-03-09 10:51:03 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158919269 Becoming Naomi Leone pamela_lilley https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158943967 2017-03-09 13:02:33 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158943967 Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen bjneary2 https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158953086 Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world with a golden boy older brother she can't outshine. Ya readers will love the themes of family, self-discovery & change.]]> 2017-03-09 13:34:53 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158953086 The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee bjneary2 https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158957011 Mimosa & her mom are the only 2 women who can create love potions & boy do they have the perfect noses to smell out the right feelings but Mim wants school & a normal life, but Mom won't allow it. YA audience]]> 2017-03-09 13:45:27 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158957011 The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord bjneary2 https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158982667 Paige wants to start living again after her boyfriend drowns but how will she handle her parents' dating again since their divorce? YA audiences will enjoy the best friends, family & romance.]]> 2017-03-09 14:43:59 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/158982667 The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley semslibrarylady https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159165295 Great for grades 5-8. This morning a 6th grader described the mum as a Disney villain!

]]> 2017-03-10 01:29:08 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159165295 michaelahashim https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159190792 Apple and Rain - Sarah Crossan
Suitable for Middle School]]> 2017-03-10 07:31:36 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159190792 elemlms https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159261904 Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
9-12
Already struggling with issues in her own life, Francesa must face the effects of her mother's clinical depression on the family.

]]> 2017-03-10 13:52:16 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159261904 elemlms https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159263208 There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake
9-12
Shelby's mom has always been overprotective but a car accident starts a chain of violent events that reveal her life and her mother may not be her own.]]> 2017-03-10 13:56:19 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159263208 The First Time She Drowned by Kerry Kletter https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159560574 2017-03-13 03:25:53 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159560574 One for the Murphys by Linda Mullaly Hunt https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159562309 After a horrible incident, Carley must leave her mother to live with a foster family. She is torn by the love and loyalty she still has for her mom, despite her failings, as she struggles to accept the love she feels from the foster family. Appropriate for grades 4+]]> 2017-03-13 03:44:07 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159562309 Missing Pieces of Me by Jean Van Leeuwen https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159562865 Weezie can never seem to do anything to please her mama. To make matters worse, she has never know anything about her father because her mom refuses to tell her. Weezie finally embarks on a quest to find the missing piece. Appropriate for grades 4+.]]> 2017-03-13 03:50:02 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159562865 Gertie's Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley hgraybrown https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159630608 Gertie will stop at nothing to try to reconnect with the estranged mother who lives in town, but has begun a new life - one that does not include Gertie. Humor keeps this light, but uncovers truths about what it means to grow up without the mom you desperately want.
Grades 3+

]]> 2017-03-13 11:49:31 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159630608 Wish by Barbara O'Connor hgraybrown https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159632397 Charlie makes lots of wishes - what else can a girl do when she has to go to live with an aunt she doesn't know because her mom still can't "get her feet on the ground"? 
Grade 3+]]> 2017-03-13 11:57:27 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159632397 Mother, Mother by Koren Zailckas lmartin210 https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159637927 Josephine Hurst has her family under control: two beautiful daughters, a brilliantly intelligent son, a tech-guru of a husband and a historical landmark home. But living in this matriarch's determinedly cheerful, yet subtly controlling domain hasn't been easy for her family. When her oldest daughter, Rose, runs off with a mysterious boyfriend, Josephine tightens her grip, gradually turning her flawless home into a darker sort of prison.
Alex Award Winner - HS/Adult]]> 2017-03-13 12:18:08 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159637927 The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159649081 2017-03-13 12:51:43 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159649081 So B. It (grades 6-9) mrsmackleyreads https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159650383 You couldn′t really tell about Mama′s brain just from looking at her, but it was obvious as soon as she spoke. She had a high voice, like a little girl′s, and she only knew 23 words. I know this for a fact, because we kept a list of the things Mama said tacked to the inside of the kitchen cabinet. Most of the words were common ones, like good and more and hot, but there was one word only my mother said: soof.

Although she lives an unconventional lifestyle with her mentally disabled mother and their doting neighbor, Bernadette, Heidi has a lucky streak that has a way of pointing her in the right direction. When a mysterious word in her mother′s vocabulary begins to haunt her, Heidi′s thirst for the truth leads her on a cross-country journey in search of the secrets of her past.
]]> 2017-03-13 12:55:38 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159650383 The Bean Trees by B. Kingsolver (9th grade to adult) https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159765310 Looks at the question, "What makes a mother?" Looks at adoption also.]]> 2017-03-13 17:33:36 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159765310 We Were Liars by E. Lockhart jenno_powers https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159822682 Examines the complicated relationship]]> 2017-03-13 20:32:14 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159822682 The Memory String by Eve Bunting https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159860842 Each button on Laura’s memory string represents a piece of her family history. The buttons Laura cherishes the most belonged to her mother—a button from her prom dress, a white one off her wedding dress, and a single small button from the nightgown she was wearing on the day she died. When the string breaks, Laura’s new stepmother, Jane, is there to comfort Laura and search for a missing button, just as Laura’s mother would have done. But it’s not the same—Jane isn’t Mom. In Eve Bunting’s moving story, beautifully illustrated by Ted Rand, Laura discovers that a memory string is not just for remembering the past: it’s also for recording new memories.

]]> 2017-03-14 01:38:20 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159860842 The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy Holczer https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159861187 Middle grades
Twelve-year-old Grace and her mother have always been their own family, traveling from place to place like gypsies. But Grace wants to finally have a home all their own. Just when she thinks she's found it her mother says it's time to move again. Grace summons the courage to tell her mother how she really feels and will always regret that her last words to her were angry ones.

After her mother's sudden death, Grace is forced to live with a grandmother she's never met. She can't imagine her mother would want her to stay with this stranger. Then Grace finds clues in a mysterious treasure hunt, just like the ones her mother used to send her on. Maybe it is her mother, showing her the way to her true home.]]> 2017-03-14 01:42:06 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/159861187 Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/162533985 8-12 years old.
10 year old Flora thinks her mother cares about her shepherdess lamp more than her.  She doesn't approve of Flora's reading choices, and also doesn't approve of the squirrel Flora has befriended.  At one point when Flora announces her intention to move out, her mother says "Go ahead.  Life would certainly be easier without you."  At the end Flora finally sees that her mother truly does care about her and their relationship is restored.  ]]> 2017-03-25 00:35:32 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/162533985 https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/164433206 2017-04-03 18:05:57 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/164433206 The Language of Flowers https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/198729664 Vanessa Diffenbaugh
High School]]> 2017-10-19 15:37:55 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/198729664 We Never Asked for Wings https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/198731381 Vanessa Diffenbaugh
High School]]> 2017-10-19 15:40:34 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/198731381 My Life Next Door https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/198732434 Huntley Fitzpatrick
High School]]> 2017-10-19 15:42:30 UTC https://padlet.com/jlagarde/5pwvkj3ddx8m/wish/198732434