Hello Baby!

by Mem Fox, Steve Jenkins (Illustrator)

Overview

A playful favorite from Mem Fox is now a Classic Board Book!

After meeting a bevy of baby animals—including a clever monkey, a hairy warthog, and a dusty lion cub—the baby in this story discovers the most precious creature of all…itself, of course!

With an exuberant rhyming text by bestselling author Mem Fox and adorable cut-paper illustrations by Caldecott-Honor recipient Steve Jenkins, this book is an irresistible celebration of the joyful connection between parent and child. Now available for the first time as a Classic Board Book, this story is perfect for the youngest readers!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442434325
Publisher:	Little Simon
Publication date:	01/03/2012
Series:	Classic Board Books
Pages:	34
Sales rank:	463,142
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 5.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	2 - 4 Years

About the Author

Mem Fox is the author of many acclaimed books, including Two Little Monkeys, Let’s Count Goats!, and the New York Times bestselling Ten Fingers and Ten Little Toes. She lives in Adelaide, Australia. Visit her at MemFox.net.

Steven Jenkins has written and illustrated many award-winning children’s books, including Bees, Snails, and Peacock Tails and the 2003 Caldecott Honor recipient, What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? He lives in Boulder, Colorado. You can visit him at SteveJenkinsBooks.com.

Editorial Reviews

Like her Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, Fox's newest has all the marks of a lap-sit classic. In mellifluous motherese, the narrator poses a series of playful questions to a baby: "Are you a monkey with clever toes?/ Perhaps you're a porcupine, twitching its nose." After 11 more such guesses (featuring such animal faves as the gecko, the hippo and the warthog), the narrator finally gets it right: "Wait, let me guess-Are you my treasure? The answer is... Yes!" While Fox is cooing as only she can, Jenkins (What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?) works his usual magic with cut paper. In many of his large-scale closeups-the images spill across and off the spreads-his subjects' big, expressive eyes seem locked in a gaze with the reader. Ingeniously stylized shapes (like the coils of gray paper that form an elephant's trunk) combine with sumptuous detailing that brings alive the parade of scales, fur and feathers. Ages 3-5. (May)

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Publishers Weekly

PreS

Fox's rhyming text is pure fun. In a layout reminiscent of Bill Martin, Jr.'s Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Holt, 1983), an unseen narrator says, "Hello, baby!/Who are you?" and the speculated answers range from the familiar elephant to an exotic gecko. "Are you a zebra/sipping a drink?/Perhaps you're an owl/with a wicked wink." A spread near the end of the book provides an opportunity to name the baby animals by looking at their silhouettes. Jenkins's beautifully shaded and textured collages are stand-alone works of art, each of which holds its own with Fox's engaging cadences. This collaboration results in a lovely read-aloud for preschool storytimes or a perfect selection for one-on-one sharing.-Lisa Glasscock, Columbine Public Library, Littleton, CO

School Library Journal

A warm authorial voice asks baby, "Who are you?" and a parade of potential animals follows. Rhyming questions introduce furry and scaly candidates, creating an irresistible call-and-response, conversational reading experience. Young readers will surely answer each erroneous guess with an emphatic, enthusiastic "Noooo . . . !" Jenkins's vibrant cut- and torn-paper close-ups of exotic animals appear on double-page spreads of ample white space, giving readers room to thoroughly consider both illustrations and text. Vivid swaths of color and texture capture elephant wrinkles, crinkly gecko skin and even warthog whiskers. A small, full-body silhouette of each animal appears as well, providing a glimpse of the creature in motion. Fox's original language offers equally strong depictions of wildlife. She all but animates the stellar illustrations: A monkey fidgets with "clever" toes, a crocodile sits "silent and scary" and an owl gives readers a "wicked wink." Anticipation builds as baby waits for the right answer, which comes as a sweet finish on the final page. This picture book brims with fascinating animals, brilliant words and engaging artwork; it begs for cozy nightly readings. (Picture book. Newborn-5)

Kirkus Reviews