The First Thing My Mama Told Me

by Susan Marie Swanson, Christine Davenier (Illustrator)

When I was born,
the first thing my mama told me
was my name.
Lucy remembers lots of things about her name. When she was two, Uncle David painted it on her step stool. When she was three, she scribbled it on the floor with an orange crayon. When she was four, she ate her very own plate of L-U-C-Y pancakes, one letter at a time.
Lucy is seven now. She can reach the sink without a stool, and she doesn't write on the floor anymore. But her name still goes with her everywhere. Lucy loves her name--and she loves Mama and Dad, who chose it just for her.

Genres: Picture Books, Realistic Fiction, Childrens

40 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Susan Marie Swanson is an award-winning poet and the author of many books, including The First Thing My Mama Told Me, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book and New York Times Best Illustrated Book. For more than twenty years she has been writing poetry with children through COMPAS Writers and Artists in the Schools and the summer arts program at St. Paul Academy. She looks at the moon through the branches of the old oak trees that surround the yellow house where she lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her family.

Reviews

[Zenia Rivera]

The protagonist named Lucy begins with what her mother had first told her when she was born which was telling her, her name. Her mother had told everyone her name because she had much pride of the beauty of the name as well as Lucy herself. Her mother had written her name down every chance that she could get. When Lucy had gotten older she had began to be more exposed to her name and so she was starting to figure that Lucy was her name and she would see that in her birthday cake that her grandpa had made. When she was two years old her uncle had even made a stool with her name on the seat which is what she used whenever she needed a cup of water from the sink. As Lucy had grown older she had written down her name everywhere, even in places where she was not supposed to. As she had gotten even older she had seen her name in school where she was supposed to put her things. One day at school she had lost her jacket that had her name on it, but eventually she was able to find it. She had always written out her name and for her birthday her parents had bought her a flashlight that spells out her name and could shine it in the night sky.

Personally, I did not like this book as much as I hoped. I felt like the plot really was not going anywhere, but I am sure that children love this book because it might remind them of events that they can relate with Lucy. I thought that the illustrations were pretty good, it brought very vibrant colors. I feel though that the story could have had a deeper meaning rather than just random events at school. I felt that the title was kind of misleading as the title talks about Lucy's mom, but she really is not in most of these pages, I thought that it was going to display more of a mother daughter relationship and their connection with one another.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

While helping my daughter clear out/organize her bedroom bookcase today, we came across this much loved book from about 10 years ago when she was three. We remembered that for around a year she insisted that I read it to her at least three times a week and often more. I read it to her again today and it evoked many happy booky memories and created a new one. However, I doubt it would be so special unless you read it to a Lucy. Which is of course my daughters name. Needless to say this book is a keeper that we'll never give away.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly, none of the kids I read this to particularly liked the illustrations in this "best illustrated children's book", but it has good potential in the classroom to go with Kevin Henkes' Chrystanthemum or Jamie Lee Curtis' When I Was Little for leading in to writing work about personal history and personal narrative.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

The importance of a name!

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations are lovely and have a great color palette. The story about her name was cute and I liked all the things related to her name, but overall the story was alright.

[Morgan]

Every student has a name that they are proud to be called. It is important as teachers to understand that what a student is called is just part of who they are and that we should never make a name up for them or call them something completely different.

[Courtney Gayle]

A book all about a name. This book is about a little girl Lucy and how she learned to spell her name and all the fun things her family did to help her. Would be a cute book to read to a kindergarten class who is either still working on writing their names or have just learned.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations were cute, but I probably wouldn't read this a second time unless I had a daughter named "Lucy."

[Nicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is VERY Poorly named. It should be called "my Name" or something like that. And it has no clear ending, which is odd, but overall it is a very cute book.