Customer Reviews

The Barefooted, Bad-Tempered, Baby Brigade

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Stimulated Outlet Book Reviews

The babies (and toddlers) are on the march. They climb out of their cribs and join the protest on trikes, toddling feet and even on crawling knees. Take note, parents, they won't wash their faces, eat mashed peas or smile on cue. The protest parade makes its way into town to the town hall, followed by perplexed-looking parents. There they lecture to the parents, "Stop tickling our tootsies and kissing our noses." And, they admonish, "Face facts: We're whiny. We're messy. We're smelly." No, no, no, the babies protest. And then, with their message delivered, the babies rush to their parents for a snuggle and a song.

Parents will find this book - awww - adorable. It captures the toddler spirit quite well and parents will recognize their own incorrigible but lovable little ones. We parents, I'm sure, can easily imagine a "bad-tempered baby brigade" banding together to voice their protests and shout "No!".

But it is not really a kids' book. The library I checked it out from labeled it a "toddler" book. No toddler, however, is likely to sit through it - it is rather long for that age. Based on the reading level, it is a preschool and above book, but I doubt even older kids will be terribly interested. Young children are not likely to have a concept of an organized protest to relate this story to. And they're not likely to see themselves in the "baby brigade". Older children with younger siblings, however, may see their little brother or sister in the book. My own four-year-old (who loves babies) wasn't too interested in the book and hasn't wanted it read again.

The story is basically well written with a nice cadence and decent rhyme scheme. The illustrations are also well done - they capture the adorable petulance of the young child and the amused frustration of the parents. I just don't think the actual subject matter will appeal to most kids. A for effort, but only satisfactory result.

The rhyming in the book seemed laborious and I had to read some sentences twice to capture the rhythm. The story line was not paticularly engaging.

My 5 year old daughter has never asked to read this again. It was a one-time story for both her and me.

I will be donating this book. Perhaps, someone else will enjoy it more than we did.