*Picture book for preschoolers through first graders
*Young llama as the main character
*Rating: llama llama mad at mama is a great addition to the llama series; and boy, oh boy, will it hit home for kids and parents!
Short, short summary: Some children, okay probably most children, hate to go shopping with their parents when they are young. Llama feels the same way. Llama and mama are at Shop-O-Rama, and Llama is not so crazy about the stinky ladies and the yucky music. He gets himself so worked up when Mama doesn’t notice he is mad that he has a tantrum. (Sound familiar, anyone?) Mama soon realizes that she needs to make shopping fun for both of them, and so with patience and understanding (she is a model mama), Llama and Mama finish shopping with no more tantrums and even have ice cream at the end. Here are some lines from the book:
Yucky music, great big feet.
Ladies smelling way too sweet.
Look at knees and stand in line.
Llama Llama starts to whine
.If you are a fan of llama, llama red pajama, then you will love this book!
So, what do I do with this book?
1. If you go to Amazon and read the parent reviews, you will get a kick out of how many of them used this book to discuss shopping trips in their own families. Many parents also said they would not have reacted as patiently as Mama Llama; and if Little Llama was their son, he would have been in time-out instead of having ice cream. But the great thing–whether you agree with Mama Llama’s parenting or not–is that this book can start a discussion between moms, dads, and kids about how to act in the store, about parent patience, about making shopping fun, and on and on. You can talk to kids about behavior, using the llama as a model, instead of having to be preachy!
2. If you are reading llama, llama, mad at mama by Anna Dewdney to a class or even at home, children can make personal connections by drawing a picture and writing a sentence or two about their own shopping experience and if they ever feel like the little llama.
3. In a class of students, you can ask them how many like to shop with their parents and how many don’t. You can record their answers on a t-chart or even make a mini-bar graph with post-it notes. (Write yes and no at the bottom of a chalkboard. Give each student a post-it-note. Children write their name on the note and then stick it above the answer they choose. Each child puts their post-it-note above the last one to make a bar.) Once you have made either a t-chart or a bar graph, you can ask students questions about it for a mini-math lesson.
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