Are You My Mother?
Author: P.D. Eastman
Publisher: Beginner Books-Random House
Copyright: 1960
Pages: 64
Reading Level: 1 or 2
Genre: Children’s Non-Fiction
Rating: *****

Summary:
A mother bird is sitting on her egg, when she feels it move beneath and she knows it is getting ready to hatch. So off she flies to get some food for her new baby. While she is off looks for worms though, the egg hatches and the little bird look up, and down but he couldn’t find his mother. So off he set to look for her. Since he could not fly yet, he walked. As he walked he looked for his mother. First he met a kitten, but the kitten was not his mother, neither was the hen, or the dog, or the cow and how could they be. They were cows, and cats, and hens and dogs, not birds. But the little bird keeps looking, this time running. He finds an old car and he knows a car could not be his mother, nor the boat, plan or crane. That crane though it wasn’t his mother carried that baby bird up and up. And the baby bird could not get down, but then the crane (snort) stops and the baby bird calls for his mother, and then suddenly the crane down him, right back into his nest. Just then his Mother comes back and asks if he knows who she is. Well of course he does, she is a bird. Not a cat, dog, hen, cow, boat, plane or snort. She is his mother.

Who would benefit from reading this?
This is a great book to teach kids their animals, but I think any child, old or young would enjoy it. Young kids can even read it themselves, which makes it even more fun.

Potential problems/conflicts:
A crane is called a snort, so for a non-fiction book some parents may be annoyed that it isn’t the proper name. There are no other problems I can think of though.

My reaction:
I loved when my grandma used to read me this book. It is so simple, but a favorite of many none the less. There is just something about that little bird making his way around looking for his mother that all of us love. The pictures are very simple, but great at the same time. I love this book, definitely a favorite as a kid and still now.