Customer Reviews

Baby in a Basket

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Baby in a Basket is a wonderful picture book for children! Based on a true story, it is set in Alaska, during the winter months. Beginning at a calm pace, it progresses to an appropriate level of suspense and excitement for a young child. The beautifully expressive illustrations assist in the interpretation as they set the story alive! Ted Rand's use of color and texture makes you want to run your hand across the pages, and you almost expect to feel more than smoothness. His illustrations are a superb enhancement to a story that ends in celebration! I can't help wondering if it was nominated for the Caldecott Award.

The reader journey's with a caring mother on a trip to supply a warmer climate for the three year old Betty and 6 month old Ann. When all are settled into the back of the horse-drawn buckboard the trip begins. Illustrator Ted Rand adeptly interprets his wife, Gloria's text. The visions one sees and feels as the threesome becomes separated during an accident on the river, are terrifying, exciting and eventually joyous. A must read for all lovers of children's books.

In mid-January, 1917, a young mother set out from Fairbanks, Alaska with her two children to spend the rest of winter with relatives in Seattle. While crossing a river in a snowstorm, with a roadhouse destination in sight, the sleigh overturned and baby Ann was lost in the confusion. This well-written picture book presents a gripping true story which will raise the heart rate and ultimately comfort young readers with its satisfying ending. Ted Rand's superb watercolor paintings bring us into a world of darkness and cold snow everywhere, with a particularly good use of firelight from lanterns, windows and doors to evince the safety and warmth of human company in the relentless Alaskan winter.

As in Sarah Whitcher's Story, the dangers to the children are starkly presented, although the gravity of the situation may be better appreciated by adult readers than by the young audience the book is intended for. The sight of sister Ann's warm cap sweeping away under the river's ice is enough to chill a parent's bones, and the young mother's anguish may bring adult readers to tears. But young readers appreciate their own vulnerability more than we give them credit for, and they will understand that the baby is in danger. The joyful celebration when the baby is found helps to release the fearful tension built up during the terrible search.

The story may trouble sensitive readers, and I recommend that adults be available to help children see that although the baby's mother was not able to rescue her child, still a providential hand was ready to bring her to safety. For Christian families, the story provides an opportunity to talk about God's protective care of children, especially those whose parents cannot care for them (see Matthew 10:30-31; Psalm 10:17-18; Psalm 68:5; and many other examples). It is best suited to an elementary audience.