Today, I’m so excited to continue Girls Who Wear Glasses Month with the fabulous Kieran Kramer — a friend and funny funny lady. I’ve loved Kieran’s books since I heard the title of her debut, When Harry Met Molly. I mean, who can’t get behind a Nora Ephron (another GWWG!) reference?
I knew Kieran would come up with an awesome lady in lenses…and I was right. Aunt Polly from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an unexpected and perfect choice! Take it away, KK!
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Aunt Polly in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is my favorite Girl Who Wears Glasses in literature.
I loved her long before I was a mom myself—she’s hilarious, quite frankly. Almost everything she says makes me laugh out loud. I revel in Mark Twain’s genius in creating her—a secondary character who is both comic and noble.
She’s noble because she loves Tom to pieces. And she refuses to forget her duty to him as his guardian and mother figure, even though Tom gives her a run-around that would wear out even the most stalwart, wise, and experienced of mothers.
And she’s comic because she’s not nearly as clever as Tom is. Obsessed with cure-alls and of a generally superstitious nature, she believes the craziest things. But she means well.
She always does.
I think Aunt Polly touches my heart because I am she…as are all mothers who love their children. To one degree or another, we’re a ruthless combination of savage love and inconsolable confusion: these people we’re mentoring refuse to be us. They insist on being themselves. And dammit if it isn’t the most frustrating, glorious job in the world to watch them lurch, twirl, careen, and soar toward being who they’re meant to be!
Thanks, Aunt Polly, for showing us that mistakes can be made in mothering, and it’s all right. If love’s there, every child—even rebellious wanderers like Huck and Tom—will thrive. And your example, bumbling and misguided as it is sometimes, gives us hope that love will always lure our children home.
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I love this piece so much…it really captures the value of maternal affection in literature — something that is all too often missing!
Thanks to Kieran for joining us in the crazed lead up to her new release — The Earl is Mine (out February 26th! Don’t forget to preorder!), which I’m so looking forward to — I’m a sucker for hot earls (in fact, I’ve got one out this month!).
So…in honor of Aunt Polly and mothering in literature…who is your favorite mother (or maternal figure) in pop culture? Share in comments for a chance to win Loving Lady Marcia — the first in her House of Brady series!
February 19th, 2013 at 7:53 am
she didnt’ wear glasses, andit’s fitting with the book series, Carol Brady!
February 19th, 2013 at 9:42 am
I loved this book cannot wait for Temple’s story. Thank you
February 19th, 2013 at 10:51 am
I love Violet Bridgerton from the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn!
February 19th, 2013 at 10:56 am
Thank you so much, Sarah, for letting me be my English teacher and mommy self– all rolled into one–today! LOL!! This is such a *fun* blog series. I’m loving reading about everyone else’s favorite GWWG.
Of course, Pippa in her spectacles is going to give *all* of our GWWG a run for their money. What an endearing character you’ve created in her, Sarah. You always create amazing women, and I love it!!
February 19th, 2013 at 11:07 am
Aunt Polly is pretty great. I wouldn’t mind Anne and Gilbert as parents either. :) (From Anne of Green Gables…)
February 19th, 2013 at 12:13 pm
I always loved Mrs. Cunningham on Happy Days – she was a great counselor to her children, she still got “frisky” with her husband, and Fonzie adored her!
My other choice would have to be old-school – Edith Bunker. She often came off dim-witted but was actually as sharp as could be, and she loved her family above all else.
February 19th, 2013 at 12:44 pm
I just realized that those were pop culture references, and on Facebook you said literary references! I have always adored “Marmee” from Little Women – she was a strong woman, and only wanted the best for her daughters. She pushed them to be educated, and wasn’t worried about pushing them into marriage!
February 19th, 2013 at 1:44 pm
I can’t wait for your book Kieran! It’ll be the first book I’ll read rom you. Super excited~ but to answer the question, I’ll choose the Grand Duchess of St. Ives, Helena Cynster. She’s a great mother and will fight for her children in the Bar Cynster series. She shuts ton gossips about her family with one look; she even adopted her second son who’s an illegitimate son of her wonderful husband and loves him as her own birth son. She’s just wonderful!
February 19th, 2013 at 2:14 pm
Hi Sarah and Kieran!
I fell in love with Kat (Catherine) when I first “met” her in Lisa Kleypas’s Seduce Me At Sunrise and one of the reasons was she was unique in that she wasn’t just a girl who wore glasses but someone who had confidence in herself.
I was thrilled when she also was in Tempt Me At Twilight but finally in Married by Morning she finally meets a man who deserves her!
Since I’ve worn glasses myself since I was in Junior High I love reading books where characters are proud of who and what they are and not influenced by the dictates of what others perceive as beauty.
February 19th, 2013 at 3:10 pm
Does the fairy godmother count? Lol because she grant wishes and give you big pumpkin carriages pulled by a pair of charming white horses.
February 19th, 2013 at 3:14 pm
Gosh, these are all fabulous answers!!!
Speaking of glasses, I had to get some three years ago to see far away, so when I drive I put them on. But now I have to wear a different pair of glasses for reading small print up close. I’m very stubborn and refused to get bifocals as I don’t need glasses in everyday situations around the house, etc.
So I keep reading glasses in the kitchen, my bedroom, and my office. And my long-distance glasses I keep in the car. I think I look so much sexier and cerebral with glasses on…I have a friend who got a pair just to look that way when she was giving presentations on her pharmaceutical products to doctors, lol!!
That would be a good romance novel…the doctor who picks up her glasses off the floor and discovers they’re fake! What a cool cute meet. ;>)
February 19th, 2013 at 3:36 pm
From pop culture I’d have to say Marie Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond. She always cracks me up, even in reruns.
February 19th, 2013 at 3:59 pm
Ross and Monica’s mom on Friends
February 19th, 2013 at 4:36 pm
I love Mrs. Weasley – fierce but simultaneously entirely loving. Great mother!
February 19th, 2013 at 5:47 pm
I am going to agree with ki pha who mentioned Helena Cynster. I absolutely love her character. And an oldie from way back would be Eve Arden in Our Miss Brooks from television.
Carol L.
February 19th, 2013 at 7:53 pm
Did anyone watch the (ages ago!) tv series “Little House on the Prairie”. I never did read the book but I love both the parents (played by Michael Landon & Karen Grassle).
Love heroines who wear glasses. Probably because I always take it as a mark of intelligence and/or the bluestocking heroine (my fav type)
February 19th, 2013 at 10:11 pm
Favorite mother… I really loved the widow Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility. She had a quiet demeanor, but was a great mother to her daughters. She knew when to leave them alone and when to say something. All good mothers need to give their girls space.
February 19th, 2013 at 10:53 pm
I loved Tiana’s momma in The Princess and the Frog :-)
February 19th, 2013 at 11:06 pm
I’m going to have to re-read that now that I’m all grown Kieran :) I love reading women (and men really) that wear glasses. You just don’t see that all too often and as someone stuck in them ALL the time I just love having a character that is too :)
My favorite mom? Can I use book pop culture? Mrs Kelly from Maya Banks KGI series is like my ultimate mom. She’s a great secondary character and always taking in strays and making them part of the family. And she’s just got a way with all of her kids.
February 21st, 2013 at 7:34 pm
I have to agree with Helena Cynster as well, she was a strong, intelligent, loving, Independent Matriarch, of the Cynster clan!
February 23rd, 2013 at 3:27 am
I too am a fan of Marmee, the mother of the March girls. My favorite bit in the movie is when she tells Jo that turning Plumfield into a school would be a challange :) It made me want to hug her, what a great mom she is.
May 21st, 2013 at 12:20 pm
GwShNz Zolpidem