Llama Llama Meets the Babysitter

by Anna Dewdney, JT Morrow (Illustrator), Reed Duncan

Overview

A Netflix Original series


With over 30 million copies in print, Anna Dewdney's New York Times bestselling Llama Llama books have provided hours of comfort and fun-to-read-aloud rhyme.


"I have something new to talk about . . . tonight I will be going out," Mama gently tells Llama Llama.
At first, Llama feels okay with this. After all, Mama has gone out before and Gram and Grandpa have stayed with him. But this time they can't. Someone new is coming over, and the more he thinks about it, the more he worries! He knows he will be miserable . . . and then the doorbell rings. It's Molly from the ice cream store. What is she doing here? And she has ice cream! Maybe having a new babysitter isn't nearly as bad as he thought!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593350331
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Series:	Llama Llama Series
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,000,080
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Anna Dewdney passed away in September 2016, at the age of fifty, from cancer. A teacher, mother, and enthusiastic proponent of reading aloud to children, she continually honed her skills as an artist and writer and published her first Llama Llama book in 2005. Her passion for creating extended to home and garden, and she lovingly restored an eighteenth century farmhouse in southern Vermont. She wrote, painted, gardened, and lived there with her partner, Reed, her two daughters, two wirehaired pointing griffons, and one bulldog. Anna was a warm-hearted, wonderful, wise soul who will be forever missed, but whose spirit lives on in her books.

Editorial Reviews

2021-03-31
Will it be your child’s first time with a nonfamily babysitter? Get great advice from Mama Llama.

When Mama Llama must go out one evening and Gramma Llama can’t come instead, Llama Llama worries about who the babysitter will be. Will she be fun? Will she read the books he likes and play games? At first, Llama Llama feels sad, but then he gets mad, so mad his “brain starts to fizz.” Luckily, the doorbell rings, and the babysitter arrives. It’s skunk Molly, whom Llama knows from the ice cream shop and who just happens to have a bag of ice cream sundae samples. When it’s clear the evening is off to a great start, Mama Llama leaves, and Llama Llama and Molly begin a fun-filled time. Llama Llama’s initial emotional reactions to having a babysitter will ring true with children, as will Mama Llama’s explanations as she acknowledges two big concerns head-on. First, even though a babysitter is not the same as having family, Mama Llama clearly states the babysitter “will take good care of you.” To the second—“And what if you do not come back?!”—Mama immediately reassures Llama Llama that she will, reinforcing her commitment when she returns home. The text is done in rhyming couplets, but many near rhymes and an inconsistent meter may hinder reading aloud without practice. As has become expected after Dewdney’s passing, Morrow’s paintings nicely emulate the late author’s style. Endpapers feature before-and-after pictures of yummy sundae ingredients. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 19.6% of actual size.)

A spot-on description of a child’s babysitter jitters and comforting discussion should calm everyone’s fears. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews