What Mommies Do Best

by Laura Joffe Numeroff

What do mommies do best? From riding bicycles to making a snowman, five adorable animal pairs depict the love between mother and child. This sturdy board book edition is an abridged version of the best-selling hardcover -- the perfect way to celebrate Mother's Day every day.

Genres: Family, Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction

22 pages, Board Book

Published April 1, 2003

About the author

Laura Joffe Numeroff is the NYT best-selling author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, What Mommies/Daddies Do Best and Raising a Hero. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Pratt Institute. Laura grew up as the youngest of three girls, surrounded by art, music, and books. An avid animal lover, Laura has always wanted to write a book about service dogs. She now lives in Los Angeles, California.

Reviews

[Dulce German]

This book talks about all the things moms can do for their kids, and how the most important thing is that they give you love. The book has different animal mothers with their kids doing different things. The words are simple to read and easy to understand for a young class. The illustration seems to be made from watercolored with each picture having its own colors. I like how the book talks about how amazing moms can be and how they can do many different things. I think this book would be great for mothers days, we can give a worksheet where they write down what amazing things their own mom can do.

[Lauren]

Anthropomorphic animals show the different things moms do for us. A sweet book with cute pictures, I wish I had the regular-sized version instead of the minibook for storytime. Aside from the size, I am a little hesitant to share it with my preschoolers since not everyone has a mom, but perhaps I will frame it as, "how would you explain what a mom is to someone who doesn't know what one is? Like a baby sea turtle--their moms lay their eggs and back out to sea..."

[Becca Peterson]

This book is about all things mother do best. Some examples are tucking you in at night, reading stories, and going trick-or-treating. These books warm my heart and just make me smile. This would be a good book for mothers day or her birthday.

[Andrés]

This book is just fine and could spark connection and conversation. I would suggest having a book "What Daddies Do Best" with all the same content, but I'm glad to learn there's already a book that has identical Mommy & Daddy activities side-by-side, and I'd recommend finding that book instead.

[Tiffany]

Such a cute book to read with littles. Even my big kids enjoyed it (8 & 9)!

[J]

Cute book that provides the readers with various scenarios in which mommies may help their little ones whether it is learning a new skill such as cooking/baking or riding a bicycle, sharing special moments like trick-or-treating, helping out with feelings or even just something as mundane as sewing a button back to our little one's special toy.

And the book ends up on the best part of a mommy's job while helping the adult reader to be able to utilize this book as a great bedtime read in which mothers can snuggle their little ones before they float off to the sleep.

The book is brightly colored and with detailed illustrations in which each animal has a mother plus her baby doing something. The facial expressions are a bit lacking and weird in some cases while in one or two spots the eyes have been adjusted to further have these animals portray a more human-like stance.

All in all this is a cute book that isn't too hard to read, won't take up much time and one that has a great message to both the adults reading it as well as the little ones listening to it.

[Madison Niksich]

Numeroff, L., & Munsinger, L. (1998). What Mommies Do Best. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Reader

What Mommies Do Best celebrates what moms and dads do for their children. It will help children develop a better appreciation for the work that their parents do.This story introduces different aspects of being a mother that are important and may at times be forgotten. This story helps present the relationship between a mother and her children in a fun and sweet way. The illustrations on the pages add detail to the story and give readers a warm feeling inside. Most of the material in this book are geared toward a very young audience so this story may fail to grab a elementary students attention. With that being said, this book would be a great addition to a preschool classroom. Students can be instructed to listen to the book aloud and then share their own stories of a family members help at home. Students may even benefit from explaining things they believe they do best!

[Robert]

This is another of my daughter's favorites. Of course, she loves her mother. I used to read this to her when she was very little. She loved seeing the mommy, even if it was an elephant, bear, mouse, etc. This book has a comforting feeling for children. It does show the many things mothers do for their children.

[Jenny]

Illustrations are cute and I like the idea but seemed like the exact wording of the daddies version which seemed kind of weird to me, but I guess if it is trying to show that mommies and daddies can both do the same roles, that is fine. Cute concept, just not overly impressed.

[Colleen]

This book really emphasizes that mommies and daddies don't have to fall into gender-specific roles. Daddies can cook and sew, and mommies can play sports, etc. Cute animal illustrations as well.

[Katie Fitzgerald]

Read at Baby Lap Time at the Tenley library on 5/6/11: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

[Brandi Streeval]

cute book read this to my daughter.

[Readergirl77]

Was a bit disappointed that the mommies and daddies book was exactly the same.