Elvi has two mums, and her friend Nicholas wants to know which one is the real one, and when he insists that the real one is the one who had Elvi in her tummy, Elvi is evasive. They both wear jeans, and they both have dark hair. This isn’t enough, so Elvi’s vivid imagination takes over. It is the one who is a ‘pirate in disguise’ or the one who ‘speaks gorilla’, or the one who teaches spiders how to make webs. By this time, Nicholas is becoming disgruntled: ‘Just tell me who your real mum is!’ So she does. Real mum cuddles her when she’s frightened, tucks her into bed and kisses her at night. Nicholas realises that they both must do those things, and Elvi’s final word is, ‘Exactly’. A wonderful story with a clever child who understands her own family very well indeed. This is a mixed race family, and if one looks closely, one realises that Elvi is brown and so very probably it is brown mum who is ‘real’, but this matters not a whit to her. The illustrations are outstanding, full of warmth in shades of brown and gold and blue, and they perfectly accompany the text. Brilliant!