By Lana Button Carmen Mok

Tundra Books

April 12, 2021

Fiction

Hardcover

ThemesEmotions and Social AwarenessFamily and FriendshipHealth and Wellness

Age / Grade 4-7 / Kindergarten-Grade 1

Kim’s mum is tough. Everyone says so. She can deal with unruly customers at the Red Rooster with a snap of her fingers.

Kim is tough, too. She doesn’t need to wear a hat to keep her ears warm. And she can make soup all by herself, even without the stove.

Kim and her mum are tough.

But Kim is learning that sometimes toughness doesn’t look like what you’d expect.

In this tender exploration of a mother-daughter relationship, Kim and her mother learn that in order to support and truly take care of each other, they need to be tough — and that sometimes being tough means showing vulnerability and asking for help.


Inspired by the main character in their book, Tough Like Mom, Carmen and Lana share ideas about how to feel better when life gets a little difficult.