I'm Not a Baby [Hardcover]

Jill McElmurry (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

“I’m not a baby!” Leo Leotardi insists, but his family just won’t listen. Leo doesn’t want lumpy oatmeal (“Poopie,” he says); he wants waffles and syrup, like everyone else. But what the family (including Leo’s older siblings) don’t seem to notice is that, while Leo may be the baby of the family, he isn’t actually a baby anymore. His bonnet is getting too tight, his clothes are bursting at the seams, and he doesn’t need to take naps! Will the poor boy have to go to college wearing booties?

Victorian-style illustrations and a hilarious tongue-in-cheek text are sure to captivate any kid who’s sick of being called the “baby.”

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 2–Leo Leotardi has a problem, and it's plainly stated by the title and cover art. I'm not a baby! declaims the indignant child in a fussy Victorian pram, preposterously attired in rompers, a ruffle-edged baby bonnet, and booties. As he progresses through life–from tricycling off to school in his rompers, to his graduation speech in which he declares independence from booties and blankies, to his entry into the workforce (his nanny tying his bonnet under his manly chin), to his marriage and fatherhood–Leo's family continues to call him the baby against all his protestations (framed by speech balloons). It is when his own infant calls Leo Dada that his aging family awakens to reality. It is left to Leo's doting nanny to toss off the final absurdity, Who ever said he was a baby? The story has a child-appealing arc: the visual humor escalates as poor Leo looks more and more ludicrous in his baby clothes, and the predictable patterning of his repeated objections will invite ever-louder participation from listeners. The gouache illustrations on cream-colored paper present Leo's feckless family in a kind of Victorian tableau. The universality of Leo's lament and its wonderfully silly treatment will elicit giggles of recognition and, no doubt, requests for repeated readings.–Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* PreS-Gr. 2. With a sense of theater borrowed from Maurice Sendak and McElmurry's own idiosyncratic approach to color, pattern, and story, the creator of Mad about Plaid (2000) introduces a memorable character: Leo Leotardi, whose distracted Edwardian family clings to the notion that their youngest remains a baby. The book opens as toddler Leo climbs from his flounced bassinet and asks for waffles, only to be sternly rebuffed and presented with porridge. Later episodes show him clad in infants' togs and enduring cooing remarks ("What a clever baby!") even as he attends school, gives a graduation speech, and starts his first job. McElmurry adds surreal touches to the ornate, period settings that suit the farce: odd colors dominate (pea green, salmon pink); word-bubbles introduce a comic-book informality into the stately compositions; and occasional, anachronistic elements appear, such as one character's high-top sneakers. Balancing the visual cacophony is a restrained text, evoking the calcified family dynamics in episodes that follow the same basic pattern, always ending with Leo's child-pleasing battle cry: "I am NOT a baby!" When a real baby--Leo's own--finally evaporates the myth, the resolution feels a bit abrupt; nonetheless, children will be deeply amused by the premise, and wholly sympathetic to the frustrations of being labeled, patronized, or willfully misunderstood. Pair this with Simon James' Baby Brains: The Smartest Baby in the World (2004). Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Schwartz & Wade (July 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375836144
• ISBN-13: 978-0375836145
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 0.4 x 10.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,459,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jill McElmurry was born in Los Angeles, CA into a family of artists and musicians. She grew up in Taos, NM and went to art school in New York. She has lived in the mountains, by the sea, in the desert, in cities, and in the country. Once upon a time, Jill and her partner fixed up and ran an old hotel/cafe/bar. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun. Now, they live with their dogs on Higglety Pigglety Farm in Albuquerque where they have five apple trees, four peach trees, two pear trees, one fig tree, and a whole lot of cacti.
Find out more at jillmcelmurry.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and smart book!, January 11, 2007

By 

chrissy - See all my reviews

This review is from: I'm Not a Baby (Hardcover)

My son just LOVES this book. The illustrations are great. It is set in Victorian times(with some funny "modern" additions, like a Starbucks coffee cup and basketball sneakers on the nanny). The repeating line "I'm Not a Baby" is wonderful for preschoolers and my son loves ending every page with this line. There are several big vocabulary words that make it fun and a nice learning tool to introduce some larger words to your child. (I had to look up "persnickety" and "impetuous")

1.0 out of 5 stars AWEFUL!, October 27, 2011

By 

bugsmama - See all my reviews

This review is from: I'm Not a Baby (Hardcover)

Wow - this book was just a complete waste of time to read. I kept expecting it to get funny or something & was just disappointed that that's all the kid (& eventually grown up) ever says. AND worst of all - he wears his baby clothes (a romper, bonnet & booties) through the whole thing even has he grows & has his parents putting his bonnet on him for his 1st day of work. Perhaps if the writing & or illustrations were better - I don't know... As a whole - this book was no good.

4.0 out of 5 stars Maybe, Baby, January 23, 2007

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I'm Not a Baby (Hardcover)

Kids will resonate most with the frustration and annoyance that result from always being called "the baby" of the family. Author Jill McElmurry's clever premise takes this labelling to the extreme: Despite all the contrary evidence, and enough time for baby "Leo Leotardi" to experience puberty, marriage, and fatherhood, his family resolutely refuses to see his maturation, calling him a baby, and treating him like one. It's only when the the family sees the NEW baby that they can drop their illusions and deliver two punch lines:

"The baby's had a baby!" said Nanny Fanni." After Leo finally shouts a final "I'm NOT A BABY!" they see him for what he really is. Then, like all good neurotic families, they deny how they've treated him:

"What?", said Lulu. "Leo's not a baby?"
"Of course not!" said Papa.
"What a silly notion," said Mama.

and Nani Fanni closes with "Who ever said he was a baby?"

I was not quite as enamored of the illustrations or anachronisms as the two editorial reviewers. ALthough the color scheme is indeed unusual, it's also a bit unappetizing, with somewhat sickly looking shades of brown and green. Yes, it's funny to see the maid wearing modern sneakers in Edwardian times, and even funnier to see the comic take on period hats piled high with plants and animals). However, it's also confusing that the baby--even when really a baby--only looks a year or two years younger than his siblings. If anything, this baby never looked like a baby.

Still, children (especially those who feel some amount of age discrimination and/or envy of their older sibling) will enjoy how silly the grown-up and siblings look when they can't--or won't adjust their views. The repetitive story pattern becomes increasingly absurd and comic as Leo becomes a full-grown man complete with moustache, family, and house. My own favorite line--which some kids will get--is McElmurry's double-ayered joke as Leo asks Daisy to marry him. "Of course I will, baby," Daisy whispered.