Favorite Mothers (Fangirling on Friday)

It’s Friday again (yay) and it’s time for another episode of Fangirling on Friday. Today we’re going to talk about our favorite mothers? It was Mother’s Day last week, and I hope you had the chance to talk to your mom. When it comes to YA moms, they’re generally absent. Even in the book I’m writing, I kill one off with the plague, and my male MC hasn’t seen his mom in years (although she shows up later on in the book). I guess it’s hard to be tromping off on adventures when your mom is there to keep you safe.

Anyway, I did come up with a couple good moms, after thinking about it for quite a while.

Jocelyn Fray is one of the rare examples of moms in YA fantasy that actually has some influence on her daughter. Hooray! She used to be a Shadowhunter in her own right, but decided to live life as a mortal later on. She’s not an overbearing presence in her daughter Clary’s life, although she does worry about her daughter (which she probable should; life as a Shadowhunter is dangerous). I love how sometimes Clary worries about what her mom thinks, yet at the same time, sometimes she rebels against her wishes (because otherwise she’d stay home and never have adventures).

Oh, and she was conveniently taken out for a while by being put into a coma-like state, which allowed Clary to find her way as a Shadowhunter without having to deal with her mom.

Another book that actually has a mom in it is Brenna Morgan and the Iron Key. Brenna is an older teen (which is probably fairly necessary if your parents are going to allow you to traipse about and have adventures), but her mom is still there to make sure that she does the right thing. Put on a coat! Why were you out so late! Stay safe!

Perhaps an important component of a good YA mom is that she has been on adventures herself. Brenna’s mom has traveled all over the world and at least has some inclination to let her daughter go save the world.

Next week we’re going to talk about evil female leaders. I can at least think of a couple of these without racking my brain so hard. I’ll see you then!