Ah, mothers and mother figures. They get a mixed press in children's books.

There are two basic types that appear again and again: saints and monsters. Saints are those loving and reliable mums who hover in the background of their children's lives while the kids themselves go on adventures. Monsters are mothers – or more likely stepmothers or substitute mums – who exist in stories to thwart the hopes and dreams of the young main characters.

Often the mothers in children's books are dead. This isn't because children's authors like killing them off, but because one of the big challenges for any kids writer, especially those who, like me, set their stories in the contemporary world, is to get the adults out of the way as soon as possible, so that the youngsters can take centre stage.

Here are a few of the mums – and mother figures – who stand out for me.

1. Mrs Weasley in the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

Harry himself is, famously, an orphan and it might be fairer to argue that the people who "parent" Harry the most through the series are Dumbledore and Hagrid. However, Mrs Weasley is the most motherly of mums, a loving and reliable figure who is at the very heart of her own large family and who offers Harry the sort of home life during the holidays that he can only dream of at the Dursleys.

2. The stepmother in Hansel and Gretel

I could have picked any number of evil stepmums from the many fairy tales in which they feature. These characters are always fixated on the children as a threat to their relationship with the father and intent on murdering them or, at least, getting them out of the way. I find the way in which the stepmum in Hansel and Gretel convinces the father to abandon his own children particularly chilling.

3. The Mother in The Baby Who Wouldn't Go to Bed by Helen Cooper

Helen Cooper presents a mother trying to persuade her child to accept that its bedtime. As with all the best picture books, it appeals to adults (often the ones choosing and reading the story) as well as young readers. It stands out for me because bedtime tensions present such a universal tussle for mums and kids everywhere. I read and reread this one to my own son when he was little.

4. Mrs Large in Five Minutes Peace by Jill Murphy

Mothers everywhere will also relate to Mrs Large trying to find Five Minutes Peace in Jill Murphy's picture book of the same name. Mrs Large's children follow her everywhere and it's the detail in this story – from the sibling rivalry between the older children to the visual depictions of Mrs Large's weary face – that make it stand out.

5. Miss Porter in The Monster Crisp-Guzzler by Malorie Blackman

Miss Porter is a teacher who turns into a dragon when she eats crisps. In this brilliantly entertaining book for early readers, Miss Porter is definitely a nurturing mother figure to her pupils. And yet, as a dragon, she is also a monster – albeit a benign one. She transforms, but never threatens her pupils. In fact they love her and when she looks set to lose her job they are devastated. In the end, when main character, Mira, is in danger, it is Miss Porter who saves her – and in so doing, saves her own job. The Monster Crisp-Guzzler plays with the idea that your mum might have a life apart from her identity as a mother, but will ultimately always be there for you.

6. Mom in The Cartoonist by Betsy Byars

No such reassurance is offered by this Mom. She dismisses Alfie's love of cartoon drawing, comparing him constantly – and negatively - to his wayward older brother, Bubba. Unsurprisingly Alfie withdraws to his attic room but then this oasis comes under threat too. Alfie's mother is a monster of a very subtle kind. She undermines her son by refusing to accept him as he is. Though The Cartoonist is set in a very specific time and place and although Mom is a fully rounded character, many children will relate to the portrait of a parent who is so clearly dissatisfied with how they are turning out, especially in comparison with a favoured sibling.

7. Marigold in The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson

While Alfie's Mom is emotionally absent for her son, Marigold is physically neglectful of her two girls. As ever with Jacqueline Wilson, the characters are complex and the story draws you in right from the start. Marigold is a terrible mother in many ways and yet her younger daughter, Dolphin adores her. As a mum myself, I found this book heart-breaking.

8. Lucinda in the Night School series by CJ Daugherty

Allie's grandmother Lucinda is a particularly unusual mother figure. Not only is she protective towards her granddaughter without being warm and loving, but she is also extremely powerful within the wider world, outside school and family. In the first three books of the series she hovers in the background throughout all Allie's adventures: severe, authoritative and morally ambivalent. A fabulous character in a great series.

9. The mother in The Witch's Daughter by Nina Bawden

Perdita grows up in the shadow of her dead mother who, she is told, was a witch. Kept apart from other children and supposedly gifted with second sight, Perdita is desperately lonely until the chance to make new friends changes her life forever. All children grow up under the influence of their mothers and in this book, Nina Bawden shows just how powerful their legacy can be.

10. Marmee in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Back to the traditional with Marmee, the epitome of the solid adult figure. She holds her family together while dad is away, much like the mother in E Nesbit's The Railway Children. She is never central to the story, but she is the moral compass for her daughters and provides them with a stable home from which they can venture and grow. Without her the girls would be lost.