Book Recommendation: Good Night Captain Mama / Buenas Noches Capitán Mamá

This quick post is to share with you a book that I became aware of over the summer, but only recently sat down to read.  Good Night Captain Mama / Buenas Noches Capitán Mamá by Graciela Tiscareno-Sato is a bilingual picture book that covers a subject I've never seen addressed in any picture book, let alone a bilingual one.  It's about a female pilot in the Air Force who is also a mom.  In this story, mom, who has the rank of Captain, takes the time to lovingly tell her curious son about her job, her uniform and her patches.  Her son goes to sleep full of pride and looking forward to the day when he will get to see her airplane.

This is the rare self-published book that I would actually hope to see on library shelves.  It is more instructional than engaging in terms of story development, but still noteworthy due to its attention to women/Latinas/moms serving in the military.

I personally was really touched by the story, because my father-in-law and his father were both pilots in the Navy.  My husband's grandfather was a teacher to other pilots.  He passed away around Christmas time the year before last.  When he was in the hospital before he passed, we had amazing conversations about his time as a pilot instructor.  He still remembered many of his students' names, and had many touching and sometimes hilarious stories to share.  The pride he felt for that work stayed with him his entire life.  I believe picture books that allow young people to connect with their military family members, such as this title, are so valuable.  You can find out more about this book on Amazon or a the book's web page.