UMA MENON
Photo Credit Ram Kozhikote
Uma Menon was born in 2003 and raised in Winter Park, Florida. Growing up, she could not find stories that reflected her experience in a multilingual house, so she wrote this book at age sixteen. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, and the Progressive. She was a National Young Arts Winner for three consecutive years and has been nominated thrice for the Pushcart Prize. Uma Menon was the first Youth Fellow for the International Human Rights Art Festival and an Encore Public Voices Fellow. She studies international affairs and creative writing at Princeton University.
My Mother’s Tongues: A Weaving of Languages will be available for purchase on February 13, 2024.
You can find her at www.theumamenon.com.
OUR MOTHERS' NAMES: LOVE IN MANY LANGUAGES
Candlewick — April 22, 2025
How many ways are there to say mother? A bilingual child investigates in this joyful picture-book exploration from the creators of My Mother’s Tongues.
“Thank you, Amma,” says the child as her mother praises a birdhouse she’s making with her friend Angelina. With two languages spoken at home, English and Malayalam (the most common language in Kerala, India, where her parents and grandparents were born), Amma is a word the child uses for her Indian-American mom. But Angelina, whose family is from Mexico City, says that her mother is called Mamá. And there are so many other names for mother! Thea’s mother is Greek and known as Mana. Francisco’s family is from Brazil, where moms answer to Mãe. Aliya is fluent in Arabic, whose word for mother is Umma.
With just a peek at the many ways to say mother among the world’s thousands of languages, the author and illustrator behind My Mother’s Tongues have fashioned another love letter to family bonds and heritage, another salute to multilingualism for a world that grows smaller and more connected day by day.
PRAISE FOR Our Mothers’ Names
“A child’s investigation into the many different words for mother opens up the world of languages in this cross-cultural reflection.” — Publishers Weekly
MY MOTHER’S TONGUES
Candlewick — February 13, 2024
In a sparkling debut authored by a sixteen-year-old daughter of immigrants, this ode to the power of multilingualism gives voice to the lasting benefits of speaking with more than one tongue.
Sumi’s mother can speak two languages, Malayalam and English. And she can switch between them at the speed of sound: one language when talking to Sumi’s grandmother, another when she addresses the cashier. Sometimes with Sumi she speaks a combination of both. Could it be she possesses a superpower? With awe and curiosity, young Sumi recounts the story of her mother’s migration from India and how she came to acquire two tongues, now woven together like fine cloth. Rahele Jomepour Bell’s inviting illustrations make playful use of visual metaphors, while Uma Menon’s lyrical text, told astutely from a child’s perspective, touches lightly on such subjects as linguistic diversity and accent discrimination (“no matter how they speak, every person’s voice is unique and important”). This welcome debut, penned when the author was still a teenager, is an unabashed celebration of the gift of multilingualism—a gift that can transport people across borders and around the world.
PRAISE FOR MY MOTHER’S TONGUES
“An uplifting story that promotes understanding and connection through language.” — Booklist
“This story is an essential mirror and window, serving as a reminder that language is a superpower.” —School Library Journal (Starred Review)
“Menon’s respectful story highlights the power of multilingualism and examines the link between accents and identity.” —Horn Book Magazine
“A thought-provoking look at the connecting power of language.” —Horn Book Magazine
“A charming ode to the joy of learning new languages.” —Kirkus Reviews
“This is a cheerful portrayal of diverse connections, and readers who speak one language at home and another in public will value a book that celebrates that as a skill rather than something that sets them apart from English-only speaking classmates.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books