✦Barbara Joosse · Reading companion
Mama, Do You Love Me?
Bring your copy and explore questions, caring answers, and clues about a story’s setting.
A book to read together
Mama, Do You Love Me?
Original prompts to use with your copy.
Mama, Do You Love Me? is written by Barbara Joosse and illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. Read your family or library copy, then try these original Curiosi prompts about questions, reassurance, and setting. The book’s glossary offers a starting point for discussing unfamiliar details in its Arctic setting.
Collect a wondering question
Before reading, look at the cover and invite one question about something the child notices. Separate a question about the picture from a guess about what it means. Write or draw a reminder on scrap paper. You can return to it later; not every question has to be answered before the story begins.
Notice how a conversation works
As you read your copy, let the child choose a question or response that interests them. Ask what the speaker may be trying to understand. Look for a detail in the words or pictures that supports the answer. Wonder how a listener could check what someone means before replying, rather than assuming they already know.
Explore the setting with care
After reading, choose an unfamiliar word or object from your copy. Consult the glossary together and compare its explanation with the illustration. Ask what you now understand and what you still wonder. Treat it as a detail of this particular book, and look for a community-created source if you want to learn more about a real place or tradition.
Create question and answer cards
Fold reused paper into paired cards. On one, draw an everyday question from an imaginary child, such as how to join a game. On the other, draw a caring response that includes listening or offering help. Swap the cards and try another response. Discuss how asking a follow-up question can make an answer more useful.
Your turn to read
Keep the conversation going
There is no single right answer. Invite young readers to notice, wonder and imagine.
What might a speaker be trying to understand?
What did the glossary help you notice?
What follow-up question could make a reply more helpful?
Make something: Make a two-column picture sheet for an invented situation: what I wonder and how I could find out. Include asking a person, checking a book, or looking carefully.
