Ten top mothers in children's books

Sophie McKenzie is the bestselling author of more than fifteen novels for children and teens in the UK, including the award winning Girl, Missing and Blood Ties. She has won numerous awards, was one of the first Richard and Judy children’s book club winners, and has twice been longlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal.

One of her top ten mothers in children's books, as shared at the Guardian:

Marmee in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Back to the traditional with Marmee, the epitome of the solid adult figure. She holds her family together while dad is away, much like the mother in E Nesbit's The Railway Children. She is never central to the story, but she is the moral compass for her daughters and provides them with a stable home from which they can venture and grow. Without her the girls would be lost.

Read about another entry on the list.

Little Women also appears among John Dugdale's ten notable fictional works on winter sports, Melissa Albert's five favorite YA books that might make one cry, Anjelica Huston's seven favorite coming-of-age books, Bidisha's ten top books about women, Katherine Rundell's top ten descriptions of food in fiction, Gwyneth Rees's ten top books about siblings, Maya Angelou's 6 favorite books, Tim Lewis's ten best Christmas lunches in literature, and on the Observer's list of the ten best fictional mothers, Eleanor Birne's top ten list of books on motherhood, Erin Blakemore's list of five gutsy heroines to channel on an off day, Kate Saunders' critic's chart of mothers and daughters in literature, and Zoë Heller's list of five memorable portraits of sisters. It is a book that disappointed Geraldine Brooks on re-reading.

--Marshal Zeringue