The Baby on the Way [Hardcover]

Karen English (Author), Sean Qualls (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

By the Coretta Scott King Honor author

In an urban rooftop garden, a young African American boy named Jamal initiates an intriguing conversation with his grandmother when he asks her if she was ever a baby. Turns out Grandma was even once ?the baby on the way,? and she proceeds to tell the story of her birth, the tenth child in a poor farming family. As she discusses the events and traditions that accompanied her welcome to the world, from the fetching of the midwife to a folkways ritual of drinking water from a thimble, vivid, expressionistic paintings from a talented new illustrator evoke the past.

A gentle and satisfying book that will inspire young readers to gather other stories about being the baby on the way.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3–A boy asks his grandmother if she was ever a baby. Grandma answers yes, and that once she was even the baby on the way. The woman goes on to narrate the story of the day she was born and beyond. One day, Big Sis runs to the field to tell her father that the baby is coming. From there she runs to get Aunt Nannie and her birthin' bag full of secret things. Quall's painterly, mixed-media illustrations capture the anxious looks of the children who know that something is up, but not what. The solitary silhouette of the father pacing back and forth on the porch conveys the sense of worry, waiting, and anticipation. English incorporates old African-American practices such as the takin' up ceremonies–somethin' probably passed down from slavery times, which culminates in the naming of the baby, and the smoking of mama's clothes to help her regain her strength. When Grandma finishes her story, Jamal asks if someday, somebody will ask him if he had ever been a baby. Grandma assures him that someone probably will, and that he will then be able to tell them his story. This is a gentle, sentimental book that addresses an age-old question and the curiosity that children have about their grandparents.–Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. The joyful subject of a baby's birth connects a young African American boy with his family roots. As Jamal picks tomatoes with Grandma at their city rooftop garden, he asks, "Were you a baby?" She answers, "I sure was. Your ol' grandma was even once the baby on the way," and she goes back to the family story about being born in the small farmhouse, her Mama's tenth and last child. After her birth there were the traditional "takin' up ceremonies . . . probably passed down from slavery times," when she was carried around the house seven times, people sang and prayed, and she was named. Then Jamal imagines himself telling his grandchildren how he was once a baby on the way. The intimate artwork, in earth colors with pencil-thin line details, shows the loving bond between family members stretching back in time and into the future. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (September 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374373612
• ISBN-13: 978-0374373610
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,305,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Baby Love, April 16, 2009

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Baby on the Way (Hardcover)

This is a beautiful picture book featuring a black family living in a city. Jamal, a pre-tween asks his grandmother if she has ever been a child. She tells him that indeed, she was a child once and, at one time was even a baby on the way!

Curious, Jamal asks her to tell more. His grandmother describes her own mother's pregnancy and her place in the family. His grandmother is the youngest of 10 children and she describes the joyous fanfare in preparation of her birth. Beautiful pictures illustrate the story; the characters' faces are delightfully expressive. Jamal's grandmother describes events from her early girlhood and tells Jamal that one day, he may have a child or grandchild who will ask him if he was ever the baby on the way.

A loving story about the connection of family and traditions that will find a permanent place in the hearts of readers.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Baby on board, January 8, 2006

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Baby on the Way (Hardcover)

Good picture books featuring African-American characters (particularly contemporary ones) are few and far between. They appear in spurts and splutters in the marketplace and unless they garner a prestigious award of some sort they sink back down into obscurity despite their own brilliance. When I consider the sheer swath of mediocre picture books featuring white children that take attention away from the really wonderful picture books featuring black children... it's enough to make a children's librarian physically ill. Now I'm a big Karen English fan. I consider her book, "Speak To Me (And I Will Listen Between the Lines)" to be perhaps the best little-read children's picture book available on the market today. My admiration was due in part to her own brilliant writing, and in part the illustrations of the accomplished Amy Bates. Now English has written another moving title that jumps with aplomb between the past and the present. She has also, however, been paired with illustrator Sean Qualls and the result is less brilliant than it might have been. A great book that fills a definite need, I regret that I can't recommend it as heartily as "Speak to Me" due to my own personal problems with its accompanying pictures.

While gardening on their apartment building's rooftop garden, a question occurs to Jamal that had never quite come to him before. Was his grandmother ever a little girl? Ever a baby? To his evident surprise his grandma says that she was most definitely a baby once. Heck, she was once the baby on the way. With that Jamal begins to hear the story of how his grandmother was born. She was the tenth child her mother birthed and was born on a large family farm. A midwife had to be sent for and her father even left his plowing in the field to attend to the birth. When at last she was born, Jamal's grandma was the baby of the family. "You know, my feet hardly touched the ground my whole first two years. I was carried everywhere. Just passed around from person to person". And when Jamal has heard the story and the only sound left is the wail of a siren somewhere, he wonders if someone will ever ask HIM if he was once the baby on the way. Grandma says she hopes someone will and then proceeds to tell him the story of his own birth as well.

In many ways, "The Baby On the Way" reminded me of another rural African-American midwifery title, "Missy Violet and Me" by Barbara Hathaway. Obviously "Missy Violet" is a book intended for older children, but the two work together especially well. In her New York Times Review, Jenny Allen noted that perhaps when Jamal's grandma says, "should you live so long" when he asks if anyone will ever wonder if he was a baby, she may be referring to "the violence that snatches the lives of so many African-American men". Whether or not this was English's intent, it does add a kind of poignancy to the story that it might not have had otherwise. Such multiple interpretations attest to English's superb writing in this matter.

Now I know that as a reviewer of children's books I have a certain responsibility not to elevate my own preferred illustration style for children and condemn those pictures that don't strictly correlate to that art. That said, I had a great deal of difficulty enjoying Sean Qualls' illustrations. Having taken a glance at his other illustrated book for children, "Powerful Words" by Wade Hudson, it's obvious that the style he chose for "Baby On the Way" was a personal choice. Flat and utilizing a kind of makeshift messiness, it conveys the scenes well but is so doggone simplistic that much of the emotional impact of English's words is lost in the viewing. Now this isn't to say that Qualls doesn't do some mighty interesting things with the pictures. I was particularly taken with his tendency to mirror the events Grandma relates on the right with images of contemporary urban life on the left. No matter what exciting events occur on the right page, there's always Jamal or Grandma on the left either listening or telling the tale. In this way we get a nice distinction between today's city life and the rural sharecropping farms of sixty-some years ago. If it weren't for the fact that the illustrations also flatten and somewhat depress the story, I'd consider Qualls a competent illustrator of this book. The New York Times Book Review article on this title accused Qualls' illustrations of a feeling of melancholy suffusing certain pictures. Actually, I didn't feel much of this. I just thought that a different artist could have brought so much more to the tale. Qualls has his own strengths. They just weren't apparent in this book.

Just the same, "The Baby On the Way" is a strong title and one that deserves a look. Due to Qualls illustrations I was initially going to give this book a mediocre three stars. I've amended that to four but with the strict understanding that I think a different artist would have done better by this book. It's a great read and will probably strike many as perfect. It just didn't win me personally over 100 percent.