Are You My Mother? book review

Bibliography

Eastman, P. D. 1960. Are You My Mother? New York, NY: Random House Children's Books. ISBN 9780394800189

Plot Summary

The story begins with a mother bird sitting on her egg waiting for the arrival of her baby bird. As the egg begins to move, the mother bird sets off to find food for her baby. The egg then begins to jump and the baby bird from inside comes out, with his first thought being, “Where is my mother?”. The baby bird then begins to search for his mother and questions if a kitten, hen, dog, cow, car, and boat could be its mother. Lastly, he comes across a Snort and is frightened when the Snort begins to move. Without realizing, the Snort has taken the baby bird back to his home in perfect timing for his mother’s return with food.

Critical Analysis

The writings and illustrations of Eastman make this book very easy to read and comprehend. I would recommend this book to any parent or teacher with beginner readers because of the illustrations that are simple to comprehend and parallel the words which help make the text easier to read. Another upside on the illustrations is how clear-cut they are to see. What I mean by this is that there are no other distractions to take away from the illustrations. The white, blank space around the illustrations make them easier to see and any beginner reader could simply glance at the illustrations when needing help to decode the text.

Review Excerpt(s)

• Titlewave review from the publisher:  “Originally created by Dr. Seuss, Beginner Books encourage children to read all by themselves, with simple words and illustrations that give clues to their meaning”.
• Common Sense Media review: This classic tale is as appealing to modern-day children as it was to their parents decades ago”. 

Connections

• This easy-to-read book is great for beginner readers and can be recommended to parents to read at home or to teachers to have in their classroom.
• Beginner readers might also enjoy “Go, Dog, Go,” and “The Best Nest” from P.D. Eastman.
• This would also be a great book for a mother to show her love for her child/children and could be used to read on Mother’s Day in the classroom.