| Brief Description: | "Is your mama a llama?" Lloyd, the baby llama, asks his creature friends, including Dave, the bat; Fred, the duckling; Jane, the calf; and Clyde, the seal, among others. Each question Lloyd asks forms one half of an elegant rhymed couplet that is completed by the answer each creature friend gives:
"'Is your mama a llama?' I asked my friend Clyde. ''No, she is not,' is how Clyde replied." Each animal then responds in a similar, playfully rhymed way to hint at what his mother is: "She's got flippers and whiskers and eats fish all day . . . I do not think llamas act quite in that way." Provided with a bit of information, Lloyd must guess at the answer: "'Oh,' I said. 'I'm beginning to feel that your mama must really be a . . . Seal!'" Before long, readers will join Lloyd in the fun of guessing just what each animal's mother is. The fact that the answers don't come until several pages after the question heightens the excitement of each animal encounter. At the book's heartwarming conclusion, Lloyd questions Llyn, a member of his own herd of llamas who leads him to his own mama.
Steven Kellogg provides full-color, mixed media illustrations that heighten the anticipation of Lloyd being reunited with his mother. This book is sure to charm and amuse any young reader who loves riddles, baby animals, and sure-footed rhyme. |
