ARE YOU MY MOTHER? By P. D. Eastman
1. Bibliography:
Eastman, P.D. 1960. ARE YOU MY MOTHER? Random House. ISBN 0394900189
2. Plot Summary:
The story begins with a mother bird setting on her egg. The egg makes some movements and the mother bird knows that her baby will be hungry when it hatches. While the mother is away, the egg hatches and the baby wants to find his mother. He looks for her while in the nest and cannot find her. He goes out and begins to look for her. During his search he finds various animals and asks each one if they are his mother. Each animal says no. He comes across a car, boat, and plane. Finally he comes across a crane and the crane catches him in the shovel bucket. The baby bird is afraid and calls out to his mother.
3. Critical Analysis:
In this fantasy fiction book, readers are not sure how the story will play out and are frightened for the baby bird. The story line is very simple for elementary children to follow. The story keeps the children's attention because they are not sure how the story will end. The plot has tension during the encounter with the crane.
The illustrations are line drawings with little extras. This helps the children to stay focused on the baby and who he is meeting. The illustrations are also cartoon like and done with few colors. The story has simple sentences that go along with the illustrations. Repetition of many phrases are present in the book and should help many beginning readers.
The copy of this book from the library has a picture of the baby bird not seeing his mother as he passes by some rocks. The picture is located at the very end of the book and also before the title page. I found this to be very interesting to the readers. When the readers first open the book, they get a chance to see this picture and wonder what the story is about. When looking at the picture in the end of the book, the readers get a second chance to reflect on the story and how the baby and mother miss each other.
4. Review Excerpt
~Review in BOOK LINKS: "Eastman's repetitive sentences and suspenseful build-up make the happy ending all the more satisfying in this Beginner Book."
5. Connections:
~This story could be read around mother's day to help the children understand that everyone has a mother including birds. We could discuss the work that mothers do to take care of their children. A bubble map could be used to list some jobs that mothers do for their children. This would help the children to see an appreciation of mothers.
~We could also discuss the different animals that were present in the story and talk about the correct names of their babies (i.e. dogs have puppies, hens have chicks).
Other books by P.D Eastman:
~GO, DOG, GO!
~A FISH OUT OF WATER
~BIG DOG...LITTLE DOG
3. Critical Analysis:
In this fantasy fiction book, readers are not sure how the story will play out and are frightened for the baby bird. The story line is very simple for elementary children to follow. The story keeps the children's attention because they are not sure how the story will end. The plot has tension during the encounter with the crane.
The illustrations are line drawings with little extras. This helps the children to stay focused on the baby and who he is meeting. The illustrations are also cartoon like and done with few colors. The story has simple sentences that go along with the illustrations. Repetition of many phrases are present in the book and should help many beginning readers.
The copy of this book from the library has a picture of the baby bird not seeing his mother as he passes by some rocks. The picture is located at the very end of the book and also before the title page. I found this to be very interesting to the readers. When the readers first open the book, they get a chance to see this picture and wonder what the story is about. When looking at the picture in the end of the book, the readers get a second chance to reflect on the story and how the baby and mother miss each other.
4. Review Excerpt
~Review in BOOK LINKS: "Eastman's repetitive sentences and suspenseful build-up make the happy ending all the more satisfying in this Beginner Book."
5. Connections:
~This story could be read around mother's day to help the children understand that everyone has a mother including birds. We could discuss the work that mothers do to take care of their children. A bubble map could be used to list some jobs that mothers do for their children. This would help the children to see an appreciation of mothers.
~We could also discuss the different animals that were present in the story and talk about the correct names of their babies (i.e. dogs have puppies, hens have chicks).
Other books by P.D Eastman:
~GO, DOG, GO!
~A FISH OUT OF WATER
~BIG DOG...LITTLE DOG
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