Most moms aren’t like the moms we see in movies or in chapter books from our childhood. Most moms don’t get it right every time. Most moms aren’t like, well, most moms. So, for Mother’s Day, here are five books about and for moms who live and think outside the box.

The Leavers: For the mom who understands that sometimes there is no good choice. Lisa Ko’s National Book Award finalist is a moving story of how a boy comes into his own when everything he loves is taken away, and how a mother learns to live with the mistakes of the past.

Our Short History: For the mom who understands there is no greater love than a mother’s for her child — and who has a box of Kleenex handy. In Lauren Grodstein’s poignant and witty novel, Karen Neulander faces the last days of her terminal cancer by writing a letter about her life and their life together to her six-year-old son.

Young Jane Young: For the mom who understands what it means to have her own #MeToo moment. Gabrielle Zevin’s smart, insightful, incisive novel takes down of slut-shaming and our society’s persistent double standards for women (plus it’s funny).

What My Mother Gave Me: For the mom who understands that being a mother starts with being a daughter. Thirty-one notable women share the stories of the gifts that meant the most from their mothers, everything from a year of sobriety to a box of nail polish.

Leave Me: For the mom who understands that the path through motherhood does not run straight or smooth. Super-bestselling novelist Gayle Forman shares the honest, humorous, unforgettable story of Maribeth Klein, who has to run away to find her home.