Books with non-evil stepmums

[StarDrawers]

Hi,

I am fed up of the evil stepmum trope. Does anyone know any children's books with stepmums who are just stepmums? They aren't evil villains. They don't even have to be made out to be the most wonderful stepmum in the world or do anything amazing. Eg. The kid in the story just lives with dad and stepmum. Or something like that.

Not a book, but the Sound of Music. My DSM was very much like the Julie Andrews character a lot of the time. But the family probably worked out OK because my Dad was as strict as the Baron!

Thank you! Film suggestions good too!

Stepmom?
www.imdb.com/title/tt0120686/plotsummary?ref_=ttfc_ql_stry_2

Try these
www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/6-books-celebrate-stepmothers.html

Ooh thank you!

@SpaceshiptoMars

Not a book, but the Sound of Music. My DSM was very much like the Julie Andrews character a lot of the time. But the family probably worked out OK because my Dad was as strict as the Baron!

Much as I love the film, it still portrays the first potential step mum (the posh woman) in a bad light.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith?

I really enjoyed Sarah, Plain and Tall as a child.

About a widower who advertises for a new wife and when she turns up the children experience lots of different feelings before they are all able to accept each other.

@MissTrip82

I really enjoyed Sarah, Plain and Tall as a child.

About a widower who advertises for a new wife and when she turns up the children experience lots of different feelings before they are all able to accept each other.

Sounds good

The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson although there are lots of other issues around divorce/parents new relationships that mean it might not be suitable for everyone.

The step mum is nice though!

Scarlet(t?) by Cathy Cassidy. Really lovely development in the main chatacter's relationship with her stepmum. Also Dizzy by the same author, but the stepmum plays a much smaller role in that one.

Films? Chitty chatty bang bang.

This suggestion may not be what you're looking for as its aimed for an adult audience as opposed to young kids but you may enjoy it) There was a film called "mom" on netflix, it was an indian film about a teen girl who dislikes her stepmother but after a difficult ordeal they bond.
Fairly sure it had subtitles from what I remember.

Rather than trying to teach kids about good vs bad step moms, why no just teach them about good vs bad people. There are moms who do bad things all the time ( Susan Smith, Andrea Yates , etc) for a variety of different reasons.

I think that is far better for children to learn the people do good or bad things based upon their personal character rather than their status.

Not a book but film malifcant - it's like sleeping beauty story but the step mum (god mother) isn't actually evil as the original tale of sleeping beauty.

She does a fair amount of the child rearing from afar too. Really enjoyed it actually.

@Tiredoftattler

Rather than trying to teach kids about good vs bad step moms, why no just teach them about good vs bad people. There are moms who do bad things all the time ( Susan Smith, Andrea Yates , etc) for a variety of different reasons.

I think that is far better for children to learn the people do good or bad things based upon their personal character rather than their status.

I'm not trying to teach them about good vs bad stepmums. Just trying to make sure they see some positive stepmums.

OP, hopefully you are a good step mom and they see you as such. Experiencing you as a good step mom will have far more impact on them than will any book or movie.

However, reading or watching positive examples may help solidify that which you model.

@SpaceshiptoMars

Not a book, but the Sound of Music. My DSM was very much like the Julie Andrews character a lot of the time. But the family probably worked out OK because my Dad was as strict as the Baron!

That was a Hollywood version of a true story, ie they didn't walk over the Alps carrying the children, they got on a train to Italy and from there made their way to the States.

Apparently Maria was not nearly as good a mother to the three children she had, as she was to her seven step children.

Well that's life.

I don't know about books but June Carter was apparently a marvellous stepmother to Johnny Cash's children with his first wife. They have said so without reservation.

I Capture the Castle was my first thought as well. The young stepmother in that is excellent - not motherly but just benignly doing her own mad thing. Not aimed at young children though.

Not sure if it would be too young, but Boj on CBeebies seemed to suggest that Mimi was Boj’s step mum - from the way they referred to “Mimi and his Pops” rather than his Mum and his Pops or whatever.

I second The Suitcase Kid (Jacqueline Wilson) for 9-13. I read it as a teenager and it was my only experience of divorce and blended families until I entered this one. I recently gave a copy to my step daughter and she hoovered it up. Now she’s on her third JW in as many weeks!

It does handle lots of issues surrounding divorce. I re-read it after she’d finished it. It only took me about an hour and a half. It was a bit of an eye opener to see divorce through the eyes of a pre-teen girl.

But the step mum is nice!

Not about step mums but Two Homes by Claire Masurel is very good for much younger children.

For somewhere in between there’s a nice book called The Memory String by Eve Bunting. The mother in this story is dead but it’s about a young girl finding room in her life, her heart and on her necklace of memories for a new mother-figure in her life.

The issue with many fictional step mothers is that the mother has been killed off! It’s just “cleaner” that way because let’s be honest, nobody wants to read about our lives!

“And then Sue realised with horror, at the bottom of her laundry hamper were a pair of children’s underpants she did not recognise. Should these have been returned in The Bag at The Handover? She nervously broke the news to Pete. His expression twisted in agony. Together, they sat down, hands clasped, faces pinched, and opened Pete’s email. There it was. The email they had been dreading, glaring back at them from the white glow of Pete’s laptop screen. “Subject: UNDERPANTS. Sue broke down in tears. If only she’d stayed at home on Saturday and tended to the laundry. Alpaca Land wasn’t even very good. And the rides had cost extra….”