The mother of the young girl in Secret Lives died when she was 5 years old in a hurricane. The young girl looks up to her mother in every way. In the hall of her aunt's house, where she lives, there is a beautiful portrait of her mother when she was 16. Her aunts say that the young girl's mother was as beautiful on the inside as she was out, and very popular, too. The young girl thinks she will never be like her perfect mother. Her cousin plays her foil, down to the blond locks that are identical to the young character's mother. If her cousin weren't so mean, she would be a terrific person to aspire to. Even though the young girl thinks her mom is perfect, the reader gets the general idea that her mother was much like her cousin.
The Mocking Bird Song and Secret Lives are short chapter books written by Berthe Amoss.
In both books the main characters moms are gone and it is an important
factor in both girls lives. In The Mocking Bird Song, Honey, the mother,
doesn't return to her daughter. In Secret Lives the mother is deceased
and therefore can't return. Both are resolved in similar manners, in which
an event occurs that makes the girls appreciate the lives they have. Also,
the girls are similar in that they are around the same age and both listen
to the radio show Little Orphan Annie.