Llama Llama Misses Mama

Llama Llama Misses Mama
by Anna Dewdney

3-Year-Old: Thumbs Up
Mom: Thumbs Up

Summary: It's little Llama's first day of school.  He is not excited by all the new faces and doesn't want to participate in any of the activities.  At snack, he breaks down and cries because he misses his mama.  The teacher and children assure him that his mama will come back.  Llama finally has some fun with the other children and realizes he likes school.

Review: A librarian read this book at storytime.  I liked the book and decided to buy it to help prepare my son for his first time being dropped off at preschool.  It worked well.  We read it for a few weeks before school. He would often choose this book to read before bedtime. Then as I was driving him to school, I reminded him what the teacher said in the book when Llama missed his mama: "she will come right back for you." He internalized this and asked me - "You'll come back?"  Then after school when I did come back, he gave me a hug and said, "You came back!"  I think the book played a significant role in making this transition a positive one.

Interestingly this book is written with rhymes.  In my previous post, I mentioned that I don't care for rhyme, but this book is clearly an exception.  I think the rhymes work in this book because they don't feel forced and actually add to the story.  My son and I both like the artwork.

His preschool teacher read a related book called Owl Babies by  to help the kids with separation anxiety.  Although this is not a new book, I also recommend this one for helping children adjust to drop-off programs. In the story, three owl babies discover that their mother is missing.  They wait and wait and wait and wonder what happened to her and when she will be back.  Finally, the mother owl returns and asks what all the fuss was about - they knew she would come back.

When the teacher read this one, the room was very quiet.  Almost too quiet - usually there was always some kind of background noise from distracted kids, but with this one, all eyes were on the book. You could tell it really struck a chord with the kids.