2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good for big brothers and sisters, July 29, 2010
This review is from: The Barefooted, Bad-Tempered, Baby Brigade (Hardcover)
I love the rhymes and rhythms in this book, and the illustrations are cute (although I would've enjoyed a bolder use of color). What child won't be entertained by the idea of babies revolting against parents? The downside is that by the time a kid can really understand and enjoy this, he/she won't be a baby any longer. It makes a good book for older siblings, however. My husband didn't like the ending, and I admit that it's anti-climactic having these bare-footed, bad-tempered babies just suddenly back down. The last line, "we won't be bad-tempered -nor babies- for long" will resonate with parents, but might not be a very satisfying conclusion for kids.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Adorable, June 30, 2010
This review is from: The Barefooted, Bad-Tempered, Baby Brigade (Hardcover)
Reading page after page of these babies protesting and making their demands I was concerned about the message it was teaching my child when at the very last page their was a lesson for ME as the parent, one that I took to heart. The book will give you pause to "stop and smell the roses" so to speak as a parent, grandparent, child caregiver as you realize that although tending children is one of the most exhausting and appears unrewarding at times careers you could ever undertake not to sweat the small stuff. And in the end most of it was small stuff. There's a poem, says dirt and dust can wait but the baby won't. Read the book and count your blessings.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining but may take practice to perfect reading aloud, September 18, 2010
This review is from: The Barefooted, Bad-Tempered, Baby Brigade (Hardcover)
In speaking with the author at a recent book fair, she divulged that this book is almost more for parents than it is for the children, and I have to agree with her assessment. The general idea is that the babies are protesting against all the things that parents typically do, and I had to laugh at a few because of the familiarity of activities like blowing raspberries and playing peek-a-boo. Some of the concepts are newer, such as the games intended to make children "smarter," so I thought that was an appropriate nod to the times that we're living in.
The illustrations in this book remind me of a combination of cartoons, comic books, and manga. The overall result is definitely unique, though it took a while to adjust to the deliberately distorted proportions and sketchy style. Sometimes I felt like the babies were a bit washed out compared to the color-soaked backgrounds, but this effect may have been intentional.
There are places where the rhythm seemed to be a bit off. With a bit of manipulation (and syncopation), one could make it work, though it felt terribly odd reading aloud to my cat. I just couldn't get it to work the same way in my head. The words and sentence structure are simple, in keeping with the target audience, though a few choices (e.g. "frustration") might go right over their heads. Each stanza ends in the titular phrase in the tried-and-true method of repetition that children seem to love. By the the third or fourth round, my tongue stopped getting tangled up in it.
In short, this children's book is one that will strike a chord in parents and keep children entertained. I suggest practicing a bit before reading aloud, to make sure that the beats flow easily. If not, I'm sure that the kiddies won't mind hearing the same story another two or twenty times.
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