Module 1 Book Review #4: Are You My Mother?

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*This book review was written for one of my MLS courses at SHSU.*

 Image result for are you my mother

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Eastman, P.D.  (1960). ARE YOU MY MOTHER? New York, NY. Random House Children’s Books. ISBN 0394800184

PLOT SUMMARY
Anxious and excited to meet her soon-to-be-hatched baby bird, a mother bird leaves her nest briefly to gather some food for her child. While she is gone, the baby bird hatches from the egg and immediately wonders where his mother is. Curious, the baby bird asks many types of animals and items around him if they are the ones who gave birth to him. After a while, the baby bird loses hope and starts to convince himself that maybe he was just alone, but he was quickly proven wrong whenever he goes back to his nest and his real mother arrives at the same time.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Are You My Mother? is a beginner book that is excellent for those children who are in the early stages of learning how to read. The sentences are short and there are many examples of repetition to not only make the text more engaging, but to allow readers to see the emphasis of the baby bird’s adventure and strong desire to find his mother (i.e. “Down, down, down!”). The author also adds in repetition to help the reader remember what all animals and items the baby bird has scratched off his mother list. An example of this can be seen on page 26 of the story when it says, “The kitten was not his mother. The hen was not his mother. So the baby bird went on.”. This technique allows anticipation to progressively grow during the story and even will probably have the reader question if the baby bird was ever going to finally find his mom.

Eastman was also the illustrator for the story and drew simple pictures to carry out his plot. There are only about five different colors used: brown, red, yellow, black, and white. The brown is used for the animals. Since the baby bird just hatched from his egg and doesn’t really have any previous knowledge on what his mother is supposed to be like, he probably quickly assumed that these animals were related to him because of their similar colors. The accent colors are displayed on most of the items the baby bird encounters (i.e. the airplane). At the end of the book, the reader can see that the mother bird has these colors on her little bonnet she wears on her head.

Overall, I believe that Are You My Mother? is meant to demonstrate how much a child yearns for some type of love. The baby bird makes the honest mistake of thinking other things are his mother, which can get the reader to think about something important. He did not care what she looked like and always stopped to ask whatever was in his path. For example, the baby bird probably didn’t understand when the cow replied to him and said, “How could I be your mother? I am a cow.” In my opinion, I believe this example can be used when children are a part of adopted families. So what if the bird and the cow were two different animals? There could have been an equal chance that the cow was the baby bird’s mother. Since the baby bird automatically made it a mission to find his mother, he was just ready to find someone who will be there for him and give him affection.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
*Starred Review from Common Sense Media: “Uproarious illustrations complement the comical tale, providing giggles galore for young readers.”
*Starred Review from Penguin Random House: “The timeless message of the bond between mother and child make P. D. Eastman’s Are You My Mother? a must for baby showers, beginning readers, and Mother’s Day.”

CONNECTIONS
*Are You My Mother? is part of the Beginner Book series that also include Dr. Seuss books (i.e. The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham). These are other books with short sentences, constant repetition, and few color-toned illustrations.
*This picture book can be used as a bedtime story between mothers and their children. Even if it’s not read during bedtime, the story can just be read to help remind the child how much they are loved.

PICTURE SOURCE
https://www.target.com/p/are-you-my-mother-beginner-books-by-nbsp-p-d-eastman-hardcover-by-p-d-eastman/-/A-11978825

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