Rating: 4.5 stars
Llama llama was a tradition in our family. Each sweet child of mine would go through a phase where that was ALL she or he wanted to read at night. I read the little board books to them as babies, and the rhyme must have seeped into their brains, because around age two and a half each located Llama Llama Red Pajama and Llama Llama Misses Mama on our messy bookshelves. I read Llama Llama Holiday Drama, regardless of the season.
And now, a new tradition: one that involves not a little boy llama and his mom, but a little girl gnu and her dad. I really like that. There's no secret that a grown girl's confidence has a whole heck of a lot to do with her dad (thanks, Dad, for all the love and time you poured into me!). If, like us, you are a fan of Llama Llama, you'll love this one just as much. The same quick, pleasing rhyme and the same heart-warming, sweet illustrations are there to greet you on every page.
What's the story about? Nelly Gnu and her dad spend the afternoon together, making a cardboard house together--they shop for materials, construct it, and paint it together. Like all good stories (and, like all of Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama books), it does have a problem--Nelly Gnu gets lost in the hardware store--that is quickly resolved. But that's not the highlight of this book. This book is good and sweet because of the bond between father and daughter that we get to see and hopefully it inspires a few of us to spend a little more time with our daughters (and sons!).
But before you buy or check out this book, you might just might want to pronounce gnu. I mean, we all would prefer teach our children the correct pronunciations of words, right? Despite the fact that my husband insists that he heard "Ga-new" while in Kenya a decade or so ago, this pronunciation guide suggests that the G is silent:
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