Did Your Mother Ever Tell You?: Words of Wisdom, Wit, and Love

by Barbara (“Babs”) Costello (Author), Margeaux Lucas (Illustrator)

My family wanted to share a children’s book with you called Did Your Mother Ever Tell You. For our family some children’s books don’t just tell a story—they sit beside you while you read them and quietly open up space for memories, laughter, and reflection all at the same time. This children’s book does exactly that and more times than not I felt like I was talking to my grandmother when reading the book.

Did Your Mother Ever Tell You? Words of Wisdom, Wit, and Love by Barbara Costello takes familiar sayings that generations of families have grown up hearing and turns them into something playful, imaginative, and emotionally thoughtful. Instead of treating those sayings as fixed rules, the book explores what it feels like when real life doesn’t always match them perfectly.

Inside, meditating horses, oversized flies, spiders, cows at breakfast tables which my mom would have loved, and whimsical bird illustrations showing the birds wearing a hat or flying an airplane fill the pages with humor and imagination. Nothing feels random, though—it all ties back to the idea that wisdom doesn’t always have to be serious to be meaningful.

What stands out most is the balance between humor and emotional honesty. The book gently acknowledges that it’s okay when feelings don’t match expectations. It’s okay to be sad when something unexpected happens. It’s okay to daydream. It’s okay to not always “hold your horses” or “not cry over spilled milk” in the exact way people used to say.

Instead, Did Your Mother Ever Tell You? offers a softer truth: that growing up isn’t about suppressing feelings, but learning how to understand them. Reading the story brings an immediate sense of family connection. It feels like something meant to be shared out loud rather than experienced alone. There’s a warmth running through every page, the kind that naturally brings people into mind.

Charlie would have gone straight to the animals, laughing at the strangeness and joy in each illustration. Suzanne would have connected with the emotional reassurance behind the humor—the reminder that feelings don’t have to be perfect to be valid. David would have appreciated the familiar farm animals woven into the story, grounding the imagination in something recognizable. I loved all the old sayings which I remembered growing up with.

Did Your Mother Ever Tell You? becomes less of a book and more of a shared moment waiting to happen. I hope you take the time to share Did Your Mother Ever Tell You? with all the children in your life. You will find this book inside our Summer Gift Guide.

This book was received for review purposes and includes affiliate link disclosure.

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates