by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 27, 2010   Last Updated: January 29, 2012

It's Berkeley Breathed's strangest children's book, and its title riffs on a science fiction B-movie from the 1960s. ("Mars Needs Women," the movie's trailer screamed.) It starts with a little boy who doesn't appreciate the work that his mother does. But will he change his mind when he discovers that..."Mars Needs Moms"?

It's a very well-paced story. It opens with a little boy named Milo, looking mopey while chewing on a dandelion next to his dog (which is also chewing a dandelion). Moms aren't special, the boy grumbles to himself. "Anyone could see that they were giant, summer-stealing, child-working perfumy garden goblins."

Mothers are "bellowing broccoli bullies and carrot-cuddling cuckoos," Breathed writes. But the pictures supply the perfect counterpoint. The mother does look kind of spooky when she's shadowed by her gardening hat. And she's just a silhouette with her arms on her hips when she makes Milo take out the trash. (It towers far, far above him - as a banana peel flops onto his face._

The pictures are in an unusual format, which make the story seem new and exciting. Breathed created the illustrations using something called virtual acrylics and virtual watercolor. ("On 100% rag archival virtual illustration board,"  the title page adds - though I think that's a joke.) The characters look like shiny 3-D sculptures, but Breathed gives them a wild color scheme. The boy's house is a strange aqua blue. And in one picture, he's dipped his little sister into shiny purple paint.

"Mothers were thundering, humorless tyrants," the narrator continues - presumably in response to the spectacular purple paint job. "This afternoon Milo's mother missed what was funny about the sister-tinting," Breathed writes. And Milo is sent to his room with no supper. But the story turns weird - and Milo is about to get a new perspective on mothers. A rocket ship appears in his window, with a "tongue of orange flames," and onto a nearby hill it unloads "Martian raiders with a big net."

They're seeking a treasure that could never be found on Mars. ("They don't have mothers on Mars, you know...") They try luring one into an alley with a cup of Starbucks coffee. But this mother looks down skeptically, since it's tied to a long red string. "Bolder action would be needed..."

They kidnap Milo's mother, and when he follows in pursuit, he ends up dangling from their rocket ship's later as it blasts into outer space. There's a colorful drawing of the cosmos, full of bright planets and the blue milky way. And it's then that Milo discovers the truth about why martians need mothers.

"They needed driving to soccer!"

The book takes a very dark twist when the boy's mother sacrifices herself to save Milo. But the book still reaches a happy ending on the very last page - with Milo back on earth...

Curled up in bed beside his mother.

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