Missing Momma (a Picture Book)

A tender picture book about a veteran’s PTSD and a family’s love for each other--on good days and hard days--from award-winning creators Winsome Bingham and Rahele Jomepour Bell

Momma wears combat boots, a camouflage jacket, and a U.S. ARMY tag on her chest. She is a fighter for her country’s freedom, but she is also a fighter for her family. When Momma comes home from a long deployment, however, something has changed. Our narrator, Momma’s ＂Baby,＂ misses the big hugs, uniform fashion shows, and music mornings they used to share. And she really misses planting vegetables together. Now her Momma won’t even come out to the garden. But maybe, just maybe, she can bring the garden to Momma.

Missing Momma is the poignant and ultimately hopeful, comforting story of a child with a parent affected by PTSD. Sensitively written by Winsome Bingham and movingly illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell, Missing Momma beautifully reminds kids that a family’s love endures even on days that aren’t picture perfect.

Winsome Bingham is a soul food connoisseur, master cook, US Army war and disabled veteran, and the author of one of the New York Times Best Books of the Year, Soul Food Sunday (illustrated by C.G. Esperanza), as well as The Walk (illustrated by E.B. Lewis). She received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education and has more than 15 years of teaching experience. She lives in Connecticut. Rahele Jomepour Bell, an Iranian American picture book creator, graduated from Iowa State University with an MFA in integrated visual arts. She received an Illustration Mentorship Award from We Need Diverse Books and was awarded both the Portfolio Award Grand Prize and the Social Media Mentorship Award for Illustrators at the SCBWI National Conference. Her inspiration comes mostly from her childhood and Friday night family gatherings at her grandparents’ house and illustrated books from around the world. She is happiest creating illustrations that send the imagination flying, offer a new look at an old idea, and reassure the viewer of their place in this world. Rahele now lives in the beautiful tiny city of Ames, Iowa, with her husband and her little girl, Darya, and works as a freelance illustrator in her home studio.