Newsweek has a discussion about a new book called “My Beautiful Mommy.”   Sounds like a wonderful gift for any mother.  It’s even being released on Mother’s Day.  Here’s the cutely drawn cover:

Too cute for words, huh?   There’s one small catch:  The book is all about the virtues of plastic surgery and is designed to help Mothers talk to their children about their cosmetic surgery and how the surgery is a good thing.   According to the article, repeated references are made to the surgery as a way that the “Mommy” is making herself “even prettier.”  The book is one big advertisement for plastic surgery.

This is one interesting comment from the article though:

The text doesn’t mention the breast augmentation, but the illustrations intentionally show Mom’s breasts to be fuller and higher. “I tried to skirt that issue in the text itself,” says Salzhauer. “The tummy lends itself to an easy explanation to the children: extra skin and can’t fit into your clothes. The breasts might be a stretch for a six-year-old.”

So basically, the author doesn’t want to say implants are good in words, but makes sure to add a cartoon breast enhancement to make sure those Mommies know that the implants are not only OK, but an important part of becoming “even prettier.”

Although one could argue that this is an effective advertising idea, using the children’s book format to help convince mothers they can have surgery and not scare their kids, it just seems a little too over the top.  I’m not personally against plastic surgery, but I don’t think that creating a children’s book which is designed to ingrain the idea that surgery is a great way for Mommy to look “prettier” into the minds of small children.