Our Baby by Margaret Wild, illustrated by Karen
Blair (Working Title Press) HB RRP $24
ISBN 9781921504
Reviewed by Dianne Bates
Both the author and
illustrator of this new picture book for very young children are award-winning.
The reasons for this are once again demonstrated in their exceptional craft in
Our Baby. The text starts with ‘Some babies have a mum and a dad’ and proceeds
to relate the different kinds of families babies are born into. Then there are
the types of babies there are (some with … ‘snotty noses, tiny shrimp toes,
tufty hair, dandelion hair, gummy smile, or one tooth.’) We read about the
lives of babies, what they do, where they go, what they like, how they behave.
The narrator is a baby’s young sister whose parents are bi-racial – mum
white-skinned, dad dark-skinned. At the end of the story they curl up – mum,
dad, baby and sister – in bed. ‘We are lucky, lucky, lucky to
have our baby!’ declares sister on the last page.
Thus the book is an ode to
having a baby in the family, whatever kind of family one has. Wild has a gift
for language, with the words of this book tripping along lightly, making
obvious the joys of being a baby and having a baby. Her simple sentences and
joyfulness is complimented by Blair’s delicate and engaging watercolour
illustrations set in lots of white background. We see a baby wrapped in a dad’s
arm while Dad drinks coffee in a café and baby drops crumbs to pigeons at his
feet. In another illustration, the little narrator’s dad reads a book to baby
while sister sits at a school desk, also reading. Then there are babies
rolling, dancing, crawling and bouncing; babies playing, ‘dropping things in
the toilet, or building a tower of bricks.’
Yes, the best word to
describe this book is ‘joy.’ The story can – and should – be read over and over
again, the lively and amusing pictures looked at frequently, too. This lovely
book is sure to be a hit with parents who have small children and babies. And
with pre-schoolers whose teachers share the book with them.
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