Product Description

Milo doesn’t get it: What’s the big deal about moms? They’re just slavedriving broccoli bullies. Yet they are worshipped the world over! Perhaps even the galaxy over—because here come Martians and they’re after one thing only: moms. Milo’s mom in particular. Who better to drive them to soccer practice and to pizza parties? That’s quite a long way to come for a mom—could it be that Milo has been overlooking something special?

From Pulitzer Prize–winning comic strip creator of Bloom County and bestselling author Berkeley Breathed comes a funny, poignant book about how the unique love that binds our families can be overlooked in the rush and tumble of everyday lives . . . especially those of disgruntled little boys.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #188136 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780399247361
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3–Milo just doesn't get what's so special about moms. As far as he can see, all they do is nag you to eat your broccoli and send you up to bed when you tint your little sister purple. So who needs them? Well, as it turns out, Martians do (they grow motherless from the ground like potatoes) and one night, three Martians sneak into Milo's house and steal his sleeping mother. The boy races after them, grabs onto the ladder of their spaceship, and boards it just as it blasts off. Once on Mars, he looks outside and finally understands why the Martians need a mom so badly–They needed driving to soccer! And to ballet! And to playdates, parks, and pizzas! Plus cooking and cleaning and dressing and packing lunches and bandaging boo-boos! Just then, he trips and falls and is saved by–you guessed it! And the sympathetic aliens take the boy and his mother home. The story ends with Milo waking up in his mother's bed, cuddling next to her. In typical Breathed form, the illustrations are lush, plush, and over-the-top with color, attitude, and craziness. The picture of the Martians trying to bait a mom with what looks suspiciously like a brand name Grande coffee on a line is hilarious, to say the least. Share this witty and sweet tale with young readers and their moms for a wacky treat.–Lisa Gangemi Kropp, Middle Country Public Library, Centereach, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Milo doesn't see what's so great about mothers. After all, his makes him eat his broccoli and carrots and do chores around the house and garden. When Martian raiders arrive and abduct the mothers, Milo steals on board their spaceship and discovers why the moms have been kidnapped: so that they can drive the Martians to their Martian soccer games in their Martian vans, pack lunches, and put Band-Aids on cuts. When Milo's oxygen supply is nearly cut off, his mom is there to save him, and he finds new appreciation for mothers. The colorful, almost three-dimensional computer-generated art, interspersed with old-fashioned black-and-white line drawings, are the highlight here. The Martians are suitably comical, and the pages are filled with subtle little jokes, including plenty for adults (e.g., the Martians use Starbucks coffee to lure the moms onto their spaceship). Funny and visually striking. Todd Morning
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Berkeley Breathed lives in California.

Customer Reviews

Pleasing to the eye, releasing for the mind
Breathed's art typically makes one, well, breathless. Here, with Mars Needs Moms, one becomes weightless with wonder at his drawing abilities. He's in as good of form as ever -- or better -- with this wonderful mix of humans and extra-extra terrestrials. While the art and story are literally out this world, the storyline is very earth-bound: families are so easily taken for granted, but nothing matters more in this or any other world. Breathed suggests it take a Martian's eye-view to keep us properly grounded. Nice to think about, but the real treat here is for the eyes. My son and I still periodically go back to Fudwapper and Wish for Wings that work; this surely is another opus for Breathed.

Berkeley Breathed Does It Again!
I loved, I mean L-O-V-E-D this book. So did my kids. I cried. They cried. We read it again and cried again. It is obvious that Breathed has stepped into parenthhood with his heart wide open. He has touched a nerve here that every parent can relate to -- unconditional love. BRAVO to Breathed. Will there be an an encore?? We hope so!

Moved Me to Tears...
During storytime at Barnes & Noble this morning, the storyteller read this book in preparation for Mother's Day. Towards the end, I was actually tearing up and had to look away from the book lest I embarrass myself in front of the other mothers who were there.

I loved this story, the storyline is creative starting with a boy who doesn't appreciate his mother at all through the progression of his fears that his mother was abducted, to the ultimate sacrifice his mother made for him in the end. It's a life lesson for this little boy, however young he is, and his heart grows tremendously by the end of the story to show his gratefulness towards his mother. The aliens learn a lesson in love as well at the end of the story.

The illustrations in this book is fantastic, with great detail and a sense of realistic visual impact to the readers. The colors are very vibrant and use of muted colors as well as bright colors are perfectly controlled to give this story an artistic rendition and a sense that you can even be in it along side the characters. This is a very touching book and I recommend this to all mothers, young and old.