Here Come the Babies - Softcover

Catherine and Laurence Anholt are one of the world's leading author and illustrator partnerships. A husband and wife team, they have produced around ninety children's books and have won numerous awards, including the Nestle Smarties Gold Book Prize for Chimp and Zee. They live in Lyme Regis, England.

Ages 2-5. Although it looks like a picture book and would circulate well from picture-book collections, this inviting volume is actually a short collection of light verse in a question-and-answer format. Lively and accessible to young children, the artwork, which features both full-page pictures and many small ink drawings of active babies and kids, is brightened with watercolor washes that stand out against the white backgrounds. In subject matter, the verses are sometimes imaginative ("What do babies dream of? Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, dickory dock, / Wee Willie Winkie, it's past eight o'clock. / Hey diddle diddle and Little Bo-Peep, / Bye Baby Bunting is counting sheep"). More often they're down-to-earth ("What are mealtimes like? Baby throwing tantrums, / Baby throwing fits, / Baby throwing dinner / In little baby bits." Generally, the poems express the point of view of an affectionate older brother or sister who's upbeat about having babies around the house. Many books for siblings-to-be are so full of problems that parents are understandably reluctant to read them to their children before the baby is born. Why ask for trouble? Here's a more positive book for expectant families. Carolyn Phelan