Review: Winter Babies Wear Layers

By: Michelle Sinclair Colman

Illustrated By: Nathalie Dion

Tricycle Press; 2007; 20 pages

Board Book

Ages: 6 mos - 2 years

ISBN: 978-1582462097

Chic and multi-cultural babies enjoy various winter activities such as sledding, building snowmen, and snuggling. Whimsical trendy illustrations are accompanied by simple text in a repetitive format.

My Thoughts:

I loved this book. I actually loved the whole series, which includes Urban Babies Wear Black, Country Babies Wear Plaid, Beach Babies Wear Shades, and Eco Babies Wear Green. I liked this book best, since as a knitter I tend to suffocate the babies in my life in hats, scarves, and booties. However, rather than merely rhapsodizing about the book, I should probably tell you WHY it is so good.

First of all, the artwork is simple and accessible for children. There is neither too much, nor too little going on on the page. The main focus is on the babies themselves...and all babies like looking at other babies. The activities are things that babies can identify with, and even mimic in some instances. The text is simple, but clever and innovative. ("Winter babies are angels" cheekily captions a screaming infant in a snowbank. "Winter babies make friends" is alongside a baby building a snowman.)

I think parents will like it for its trendiness...both artistically and thematically. It is also, I think, a useful addition to the library since it is actually in line with early literacy skills and developmental levels.


The Thoughts of Others:

There were not, that I could see, a lot of "official" or "authoritative" reviews of this book.

I did find one from Looking Glass Review, which is an online children's book review journal. They thought that the book was "thoroughly warming."

There were also several reader reviews on Amazon and on a library blog...all of which were positive, referring to "spunky text" and "whimsy."

The Mitten

Today was the first "Storytime with Megan" at my work. I told my adaptation of Jan Brett's adaptation of The Mitten. The basic transcript is posted to the left. I followed her storyline, but the repetitive refrains that each animal uses are original to me.

I was very excited...I had knit two different sized mittens and cut all of the animals out of felt. It was a lot of prep work for an 8 minute story, but now I have the tools should I ever tell the tale again. (Although my sister, who just got her elementary ed degree seems to think she needs them...)

The work was worth it, because my coworkers were truly delighted. (And I like to think it was my storytelling, not the juice boxes and animal crackers that they loved.) They said that they had not expected me to do voices, and you can hear them chuckling in the background of the video. Afterwards several asked to look at the book, they wanted to get copies for their kids/grandkids.

Things I learned: Up-angles are not flattering! Grape is the most popular juice flavor! Wear a belt when telling this story, so that you have someplace to tuck the mittens!

Also, I need to thank Bill who filmed it for me. He was worried it would be shaky, but used a chair to prop the camera...maybe tomorrow I will take a tripod...

The video of the story is posted to the left!