Mother, May I?

by Lynn Plourde, Amy Wummer (Illustrator)

A little girl offers to take care of her busy mother for a day. She helps Mom put on makeup, takes her shopping, cleans the house just the way she likes it, and much more. Somehow, though, Mom ends up more tired and frazzled than usual. . . . “Maybe I need more practice being a mom,” the little girl admits. But there is one mom thing she knows how to do just right—say “I love you.” This funny and sweet picture book is ideal for sharing on Mother’s Day or any day.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 30, 2004

About the author

I write kids' books--talk about a FUN job! I worked for 21 years as a speech-language therapist in Maine schools. When I got married, I got 3 & 4-year-old stepsons as part of my ready-made family. I read the boys picture books at bedtime. They fell asleep after 2 or 3 books, but I kept reading stacks and stacks of picture books and started to dream . . . maybe I could write picture books. I was already writing educational books (listening & speaking ideas for the classroom), but PICTURE BOOKS--that was different!

Different, and sloooooow! I had 13 years of rejections before getting my first book published, Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud, and I still get more rejections than acceptances--even after having more than 40 books published. So I'm still an author-in-training--learning to be a better author all the time.

I LOVE writing, the whole creative process. I also LOVE sharing my books with kids at schools: doing interactive readings, turning one of my books into a play, and teaching students how to plan and write different kinds of stories (i.e. problem stories, character stories, graphic novel scenes, fables) modeled after my books.

I love to try new kinds of writing such as poetic stories, a biography, a graphic novel, and more. Writing new kinds of stories is a challenge, but it makes writing fun and keeps me interested in the process.

Reviews

[Jordan Devine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was about a daughter and her mom. The daughter wanted to do nice things for her mother on her special day. The daughter made breakfast, cleaned, and just helped her mom out. It turned out that all the daughter was doing to show her mom her appreciation, it made things a little messy. But in the end it was worth it.

[Amber Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute and funny

[Lilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a silly book about a little girl trying to help her mom out on the moms birthday. Instead she ends up making more of a mess for mom to clean up!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny & I enjoyed the illustrations.

[Grace Paradis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun book about loving your mom

[Ileana Lindner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mother, May I, is about a little girl who has the best of intentions to help out her mother for a day. However, things go even more hectic than usual, and the mother gets even more tired at the end of the day. I think this is a great book to teach young students of point of view. A fun activity one could do with this book is have a T-Chart, and write the little girl's name on one side, and the mother on the other side, and write down their actions and reactions to what happens in the story. Then the class can compare and contrast what was happening as apposed to what should've happened.

[Krys (Krys Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Via Mother's Day Minis (2)
Such an exhausting day for Mother when child decides to play "mother". Almost like our character Little Critter we enjoy the antics of a child who thinks she can spend the day being mom and the catastrophes that come with it.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a very cute (and honest) account of a young girl's quest to give her mother the best Mother's Day ever. Reminds me of when I was a child!

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

How this mother does not lose her temper I have no idea.

[Shelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mother, May I is cute picture book about a young girl whose good intentions to help out her mother end up causing more harm than good. Interest level 6 or younger.

[Beyond the Pages with Eva K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely hilarious! Hahahahaha....

[Aspasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mothers of toddlers everywhere will be able to identify with the mom in these illustrations.