Customer Reviews

Hello Baby!

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With its rhyming tour of the animal kingdom, Hello Baby! pretty much riffs on the whole Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? formula, but its lack of originality is more than offset by its simple, charming rhymes and gorgeous artwork. Mem Fox understands that a simple rhyming cadence is the most effective way for the "story" to sink in, and doesn't go overboard with too many words. Steve Jenkins' artwork owes a lot to Eric Carle, but I've never understood Carle's appeal, so to me, Jenkins' less geometric animals are easier on the eyes.

My 3-year old son enjoyed Hello Baby!, but not as much as he would had we discovered it a year ago. When his Brown Bear/Polar Bear/etc. phase was in full swing, it probably would have been one of his daily favorites. I'd absolutely recommend this book to parents of toddlers. It has fun rhymes, eye-catching artwork, and a ton of "again, again!" potential.

If I had written this review before I read this book to my 2 1/2 year old I would have said that it didn't really make much sense, the choice of animals is a little weird, and the whole thing about baby being the most precious animal of all doesn't really make any sense. And the whole idea of having a dust jacket on a children's book is well... not a good idea.

But... she gets it... she calls out the names of the animals and makes noises and plays with the baby's hand at the end of the book. And after all, am I the audience? No not really.

This keeps her entertained a lot more than some of the other books that we have so I have no complaints.

There are all kinds of babies in the world. There are funny looking monkeys, porcupines that twitch their noses, sleepy leopards, elephants sticking their noses in the air, hairy warthogs, quiet, scary crocodiles, thirsty zebras and winking owls. Can you think of some other baby animals you have seen?

"Are you an eagle exploring the skies?
Perhaps you're a gecko with rolling eyes.
Are you a lion with dust on its paws?
Perhaps you're a hippo with yawning jaws."

The collage animals in this book are amazingly well done. Although this type of illustration is not for all adults, it will have great appeal to the little ones. The rhyming text is soothing and this story would make an excellent cuddle up bedtime story. Can you guess who the most treasured baby of all would be?

A great children's book!!! This book is fun to read and is funny. One of my favorite read aloud bedtime stories. A great addition to a child's library!

This is good book for young toddlers. My 2 year old really enjoys the pictures and story. As other reviewers have noted, this book has wonderful illustrations and a very positive message. The story is too simplistic for my 4 year old who has no interest in it. This is best for younger children.

My three year old is a fan of books and Hello Baby! is no exception. It starts off saying "Hello baby." with a picture of a tail on the next page. Below the tail it asks "Who are you?" From then on it has picture of various animals with rhyming descriptions of them. My daughter's favorite being an owl with a wicked wink. Some of the animals and descriptive words are new for my daughter so she is learning from the book. As several other reviewers mentioned, there is no connection between showing all these animals and then saying my child is my treasure. There is no way my daughter understands the ending of the book. I do like someone's suggestion of putting your kid's photo on the page. However, I have two kids so that makes it hard.
I'd give this book three stars for not being able to completely pull off the concept of the book especially for the younger children the book is meant for. However, my daughter still really likes the pictures and story so I give it a four. Try flipping through the book before purchasing it.

Hello, baby!
Who are you?

Are you
a monkey
with clever toes?

Perhaps you're
a porcupine,
twitching it's nose.

These are some of the lyrics in Mem Fox's new book, "Hello, Baby!" The concept behind the book are possible answers to the question "who are you?" Different animals are suggested until the end of the book where the final question is asked... "Are you my treasure?" [The answer, of course, is yes.]

The pictures and lyrics give adults and little ones lots of ways to interact (which I love). You can talk about the animals, colors and action. You can yawn like the hippo and wink like the owl. And in general I have high praise for this book. My only hesitation to giving 5-Stars is the art. While some of award winning illustrator Steve Jenkins' paper-work is brilliant. Love the owl. Love the lizard. Some of it is rather dark and muddy for very young children. The monkey's tail, for example, is just a black tail, quite unremarkable. And the porcupine is somehow not cute.

Four Stars. Very good concept book. Good Read-aloud. Would make a lovely gift. There is a lot to recommend this book, I only wish the artwork was more playful.

Pam T~
mom and reviewer for BooksForKids-reviews

My 2 year old son loves this simple, elegant book. The illustrations are beautiful, and the simple text is well written and enjoyable. I highly recommend this book for children age 1 to 3 year old.

My daughter loves animals (as probably all young kids do) and she just LOVES this book! The pictures are great, and the "review" of all of the animals on one of the last pages (shows the outlines of all of the animals) is nice, because she likes to point at them and have me name them.

Hello Baby! by Mem Fox is a simple story, but the book features beautiful "cut-out" illustrations. The cut-out gives the affect of making the animals and backgrounds appear textured, which adds interest. This is perfect book for young children under 3 who get easily bored with "too many words" and are trying to flip the page before you've finished reading. Let's face, they want a nice picture to point out and talk about - and this book delivers. Mem Fox is a best-selling author (Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes) and her new book does not disappoint for toddlers.