Are You My Mother?
A single question is asked eight times to increasingly unlikely characters, allowing the child to join in and say "no" to a cow, plane, or digger. The simple vocabulary makes it ideal for new readers.
Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman is estimated to take about 8 minutes to read aloud (699 words, about 1 sentence a page), and it lands best with children aged 3-5.
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- Estimated read-aloud time
- about 8 minutesEstimated read-aloud time
- Word count
- 699Counted words
- Sentences per page
- 1Sentence per page
- Re-read tolerance
- 4/5repeat friendly
- Vocabulary level
- 1/5plain words
- Best for
- Ages 3-5Our editorial fit
Our review
A small bird asks the same question eight times, but to increasingly unlikely things like a cow, a plane, and a digger. This allows the child to join in and participate by saying "no."
The book uses about a hundred different words in total, which is why it is so accessible for new readers to hold onto the story.
Before you buy it
The baby bird is alone and lost for most of the journey, and the Snort scene can be a little worrying for three-year-olds.
Themes
- mothers
- searching
- birds
- machines
Books like Are You My Mother?
Matched by refrain, density, length, and listener—not just the subject.
Go, Dog. Go!about 6.5 minutes estimated · 4/5 re-read
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?about 4 minutes estimated · 5/5 re-read
Room on the Broomabout 10 minutes estimated · 5/5 re-read
If You Give a Mouse a Cookieabout 5 minutes estimated · 5/5 re-read
Green Eggs and Hamabout 8.5 minutes estimated · 5/5 re-read
Questions parents ask
How long does it take to read Are You My Mother? aloud?
About 8 minutes at an unhurried pace, including a standard allowance for page turns, pictures and participation, from a word count of 699. Stopping for a longer conversation on every page will add more time.
What age is Are You My Mother? actually for?
Ages 3-5 in our testing, which is narrower than the publisher's range. With 1 sentence a page and vocabulary at 1 out of 5, it asks for that much attention span and no more.
Does Are You My Mother? survive being read on repeat?
Yes. It survives a fortnight of nightly repeats, which is the real test.
Is Are You My Mother? a good book for a child who will not sit still?
It helps that it has a refrain a child can join in with, and it asks the child questions to answer out loud. Those three features are what keep a wriggling toddler listening, far more than the subject matter does.
Will my child memorise Are You My Mother??
Probably, and fast. The book leans on a repeated refrain, and at 4 out of 5 for re-read tolerance it survives the nightly repeats that get a book memorised. Expect your child to chant the pattern back before they can actually read.
Can a beginning reader read Are You My Mother? on their own?
It is closer than most picture books. With 1 sentence a page and plain vocabulary (1 out of 5), a confident early reader can attempt it, though it is written to be read aloud first.
What themes does Are You My Mother? cover?
We tag it with mothers, searching, birds and machines. Those are the threads that actually run through the book, not just the ones on the cover, which is how it earns its place on our themed lists rather than a keyword match.
Lists Are You My Mother? is on
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