The Day My Mother Left

by James Prosek

When his mother leaves to live with another man, nine-year-old Jeremy faces his own pain and loss, his father's depression and sister's distance, and the pity of friends and strangers, finding solace in fishing and his artwork, in a touching fictional memoir.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Audiobook, Realistic Fiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published February 27, 2007

Reviews

[Anina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very lovely and well written book from the point of view of a nine year old boy whose mother has just left their family for another man. The style was very realistic, however, there isn't much plot action, there's a lot of rambling about his feelings. Also it's quite depressing. It's illustrated...He draws these birds, but once his mom leaves he draws these weird birds with no eyes. While I really enjoyed it, I guess what I'm saying is I think it would take a special type of child to actually want to read it.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Jeremey for TeensReadToo.com

Jeremy's mother has often been disappearing for hours at a time, but on a Sunday afternoon all truths are told.

His mother has found a new love - the father of Jeremy's enemy at school and on the baseball field. A fight occurs between Jeremy's mother and father. His mother leaves, and she takes everything with her - including Jeremy's Book of Birds that he had been illustrating himself.

No one can believe that she left. Especially Jeremy. He feels abandoned and hurt. Through his father's sadness and his own mixed-up feelings, Jeremy recreates the Book of Birds and finds solace within himself through nature.

James Prosek's THE DAY MY MOTHER LEFT is very moving. Coming from a divorced family myself, it's easy to relate and understand Jeremy's feelings. Mr. Prosek uses outstanding details within the story and has also created lovely drawings. It is a great book and experience from beginning to end.

[Laurel Deloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful little book, probably meant for the young adult audience, but don't let the keep you from reading this great book. Sad but the young boy (9) speaks eloquently of his sorrow, his anger, his lonelyness, his unacceptance of the new person, who is removing every evidence of his beloved Mother.
Amazon
When his mother leaves to live with another man, nine-year-old Jeremy faces his own pain and loss, his father's depression and sister's distance, and the pity of friends and strangers, finding solace in fishing and his artwork, in a touching fictional memoir.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an honest book, from the viewpoint of a young boy about his mother leaving. Other topics like death and sexuality come up. This might be helpful for children who don't understand that their parents are sick (psychologically) and can't raise them. The scene that was sensual was brief and probably appropriate for what some unsupervised 10-13 year olds experience depending on how their family raises them. The audio book was a good recording.

[Tracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't find fault with the writing here and I admired the paintings especially as related to the text. This was just so emotionally sad though that I found it draining and I spent a good portion of the book nervous for this character.

[Tali Sanchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the author!!
Love the storyline and the characters.
Jeremy develops so much from the beginning to the end, from the pain of his mother leaving to having to change his life completely.

[Julier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read one of Prosek's science books, Eels: An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World's Most Mysterious Fish (also a Prime Time movie) and started looking at some others. Somehow I found that he had written this book, basically an autobiography and was interested it in. It was sad and touching but a wonderful look at how James Prosek started following his interests and has done so much with it! You should do a search for his books and you'll be amazed! Very talented!

[Marion]

Interesting thing about when your Mother… when she walks out of the family, she takes away your childhood. And, what is the point of childhood if not to introduce and establish a foundation of trust? But our young boy tells his story as if he managed to build a foundation for himself through his uncle and his drawing. His friend Stephen and his mom are steady presences too. His father, and sister Julie, not so much. A sad story told as if our young naturalist artist makes it through, but I’m not buying it. Will he trust anyone wholly again?

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether it’s viewing his art or reading his writing, James Prosek provides a comforting place of reflection. There is a complex simplicity in nature that Prosek skillfully captures. Everything he does transcends the temporal.

A satisfying read.

[Lameck Manyara]

It's a very good book! That's all I can say.

[Imaan · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5

[Barbara Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this, trying to figure out whether is was James Prosek's life story. Looking up the author, I see that he paints beautiful pictures of fish in real life, and in this book, Jeremy paints birds but he does like to fish. I guessed that it was the story of his life.
The main character is dealing with the repercussions of his mom leaving the family. His dad, who has anger issues, is a good, caring father.
My heart hurt for the boy, who was so close to his mom when she decides to leave the family. You see it from the boy's point of view, and he had no idea of the problems his mother had. The book's story takes place over three years, and it takes that long for the boy to come to understand his mom's actions.
This is not an action packed book, but it was a good story, and I liked how his love of nature helped Jeremy heal.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely YA book, great drawings. Another boy-on-cusp-of-adolescence, coming-of-age book (seemed to be a theme for me in 2007). Seems like a thinly disguised autobiography. Young Jeremy's mother leaves the family for another man and for three years, he doesn't know where she is. Turns out (you're not going to read it, so this won't ruin anything) the man she runs off with is the father of Jeremy's most hated bully classmate. Yeah, that's really nice, Mom. Jeremy finds solace in nature and in drawing birds. Author is a leading bird artist today. Draw your own conclusions.

[Holly Ristau · Rating 1 out of 5]

I listened to this book on tape for a long drive. If I had been reading this in book form, I would have stopped. There is only one normal woman in the whole book, all the rest are neurotic witches. The men aren't much better. What happened to the bully? No closure there. There were some wonderful descriptions of some birds and places, but not enough to save the book. Why even being in the whole Casey incident? But though it got me thru a long drive, I won't be recommending it to anybody.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for an interesting read with this, and that's what I got, in the beginning. I really liked about the first half of the book, but then the writing started to go all over the place. There were parts that I thought Jeremy was very well written; but then some parts seemed completely wrong (specifically almost everything having to do with Casey) for a boy his age. Also, I wasn't a fan of the ultimate message the book seemed to give. Honestly, I was just expecting better.

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book written for young children to read-lots of smoking (chain) and a raft of adults we wouldn't want as our mentors! It is realistic reading for way too many children. I like that art helps the boy survive. When I was a child I liked books that helped me escape my life-not ones that made me relive it, so I wonder how kids like this one?

[Annalee · Rating 1 out of 5]

So many problems, but I think the primary one is who this book is actually *for*. I found it in the juvenile audio book section, but for language, the Casey scene (whaaat was that about?) and just general content (adultery, suicide attempt...), I think it would have to be YA at the least. But, as a teacher of junior high English, I really can't see junior high kids liking it either.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was just meh for me. The main character is a 10 year-old boy whose mother left the family for another man. He copes with the divorce by drawing and painting, mostly birds, which is what interested me in the novel. Evidently this book was semi-autobiographical for the author.

[Cathy Aquila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prosek tells a moving tale about a boy coping with his feelings of abandonment after his mother leaves and his parents divorce. Although it's a YA novel I think this book can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sparse yet emotional portrayal of what it feels like when a loved one walks out of your life. As a child of divorced parents and a woman recently divorced I found a lot of the characters emotions mirrored my own and articulated them better than I could at the time. A really lovely quick read.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm being hard on the rating for this book b/c I could have written a much better book. Overall, the book wasn't bad. I just thought the mother leaving could have been more dramatic. There should have been some buildup or at least the mother should have been developed as a character more.

[adi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cried. That's all that needs to be said. It was beautiful.

[minnie mouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

i learned that this book talks about how you should treasure someone

[Karimah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so very sad

[Jose Delorbe · Rating 3 out of 5]

i find this book very interesting, this book! It has suspense and very interesting at the beginning. I really recommend you this book!

[Addy · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was crummy

[Rachel Strang · Rating 5 out of 5]

really good book for artists.

[Meryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really just felt like this was a nothing book. Nothing happened...

[Cory · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so stilted and stylistically weird, that I only got through about 30 pages. Done!

[Brandee Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Closer to three stars but I disliked the characters enough to only give two. I seriously wanted to slap both parents throughout most of the book.