“Where’s My Mom?”
by Julia Donaldson

Don’t you love the cover of this book? All of the
illustrations are just as cute and original. The story
is wonderful, and the musical possibilities make it a
perfect choice for a Mother’s Day read-along.

At first I worried that the plot of the story, about a
little monkey who can’t find his mom, might be too 
scary for preschoolers, but I haven’t found this to be
the case at all. It seems that even little ones know 
a “happy ending” book when they see one!

The little monkey asks a series of jungle animals,
beginning with an adorable, funny  little butterfly,
if they’ve seen his mom. He gives vague descriptions
of her – i.e., “she’s big” – which lead his new friends to 
bring him to the wrong animal (i.e., an elephant).

Finally someone succeeds in locating his mom – or 
is it his mom? A funny surprise awaits. 

I really like two things in particular about “Where’s My
Mom?”. First of all, from a music teacher’s point of view,
I enjoy the way most of the speeches can be sung to the
tune of “Hush little baby, don’t you cry.” Also, it’s cool
the way the story teaches about how easily language
can be misunderstood, and how important it is to be
clear about what you want, or what you’re looking for.

Young children always respond very positively to
“Where’s My Mom?” They appreciate the humor and the
mixed-up communication. It always gets lots of giggles 
and “Can you read it again?”

“Where’s My Mom?” can be purchased here.