Book Review - Are You My Mother?

Eastman, P.D. 1960. Are You My Mother?. Beginner Books, Inc.: New York.

Through simple text and illustrations, P.D. Eastman tells the classic story of a baby bird’s search for his mother. As the story opens, the mother bird leaves her nest to find food for her soon-to-be-hatched baby. Before she returns, her baby hatches and begins to search for her, complicated by the fact that the baby has no idea what his mother looks like! Surely the kitten, hen, dog, or cow could not be his mother, which leads the baby bird to wonder, “Did he have a mother?” Of course he did. After passing up a junkyard car, boat, and plane, the fledgling is scooped up by a most frightening piece of machinery he calls a “Snort”, which could certainly not be his mother, but thankfully drops him safely back in his nest. Mother Bird soon returns with a worm, and the baby knows exactly who she is – his mother! The text is comfortingly repetitive, yet never redundant as it tracks the determined baby bird’s search. Eastman’s illustrations are for the most part simple, with plain lines, and muted colors, but splashes of yellow and red add vibrancy. The longevity of this wonderfully sweet story speaks for itself. [By Mandy Hooker, written as an assignment for TWU SLIS]