"More More More," Said the Baby (A Caldecott Honor book) [Paperback]

Vera B. Williams (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 1996 | Series: A Caldecott Honor book

Here are Little Guy, Little Pumpkin,and Little Bird.

Their grownups love them. So will you.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From beneath the tickles, kisses, and unfettered affection showered on them by grownups, the children in Vera B. Williams' Caldecott Honor Book cry out for "more more more!" The stars of three little love stories--toddlers with nicknames like "Little Pumpkin"--run giggling until they are scooped up by adoring adults to be swung around, kissed, and finally tucked into bed. Quirky watercolor drawings and colorful text feature multiethnic families, and young readers will rejoice in seeing the center of all the attention: the wiggly, chubby, irresistible toddlers. (Baby to preschooler) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

The spontaneity and delight of play is captured perfectly in this trio of multigenerational, multiracial "love stories" about three pairs of babies and their grown-ups. Told in a natural, colloquial tone, the simple, engaging text is finely honed with a rhythm that is musical. The style is as buoyant and infectious as the actions described: "Little Guy's daddy has to run like anything just to catch that baby up." Williams carries the same basic framework and language through each story, generating the repetition that is so satisfying to very young listeners, while the stories and characters maintain their own distinctions. Just as she celebrates universality within the text, Williams presents diversity with characteristic flair within her illustrations. Little Guy and his father are white, Little Pumpkin is African-American and her grandmother is white, and Little Bird and her mother are both Asian-American. Natural and unforced, Williams' choices are an accurate reflection of American society, but are noteworthy in their representation in books for this age group. Uncluttered, yet filled with movement, the splashy, vibrant paintings in gouache feature vigorous portraits and large, clearly defined objects set against a textured expanse of sweeping brushstrokes. The text appears in rainbow-hued letters within the illustrations, adding to the appealing design. Although it is a fine vehicle for toddler storytimes, the real strength of this book lies in the intimacy achieved when it is shared one-on-one between babies and adults or older siblings. A joyous expression of verbal and physical affection, these are truly love stories for our times. More, more, more . . . --Starr LaTronica, North Berkeley Lib . , CA
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books (April 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688147364
• ISBN-13: 978-0688147365
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Literature > Poetry > General
  • #98 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Family Life > General

More About the Author

Vera B. Williams lives in New York City.

In Her Own Words..."Throughout my childhood I was encouraged to make pictures, tell stories, act, and dance--all of this at a heaven in our New York City neighborhood called the Bronx House.

"Saturdays I painted with a crusading art director, Florence Cane. In her book The Growth of the Child Through Art, I appear under the name Linda. I was sixteen when the book appeared and embarrassed by it. But at age nine I had been totally proud when a painting of mine was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and I was later shown in the Movietone News explaining to Eleanor Roosevelt its Yiddish title, "Yentas."

"In 1945 I went to Black Mountain College in North Carolina, a unique educational community. I graduated in 1949 in graphic art, which I studied with Josef Albers. Along the way I planted corn, made butter, worked on the printing press, and helped to build the house in which I lived with Paul Williams, a fellow student I married there.

"I wanted that connection of art and community to continue. And it did at the Gate Hill Cooperative, a community we built with other Black Mountain people, a poet, musicians, and potters. I lived and worked there from 1953-1970 (after which I moved to Canada). My children (Sarah, Jenny, Merce) grew up there. For them, we branched out into a school, part of the Surnmerhill movement. The gingerbread houses that led to my first book for Greenwillow I first made in sticky variety at our school. I have always liked to teach and have taught art, cooking, writing, nature study, for nursery age on.

"At forty-six, no longer married, living in a houseboat on the bay at Vancouver, British Columbia, I did my first book. But before that could happen, the fates decreed a stint of cooking and running a bakery at a small school in the Ontario countryside. My love affair with Canada included also a 500-mile trip on the Yukon River. Many of those adventures I put in Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe.

"I also write and draw for adults-short stories, leaflets, and posters. As a lover of children, I try to do what I can to help save their earth from nuclear disaster. This pursuit, too, has added its excitement to my biography, including, in 1981, a month's stay in the federal penitentiary in Alderson, West Virginia (an outcome of a women's peaceful blockade of the Pentagon). Perhaps this experience will some day appear in one of my books. So far I've found children's books a wonderfully accommodating medium where any of my various activities might pop up."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I don't care for it but my daughter loves it!, November 19, 2001

By 

scducharme (Concord, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: "More More More," Said the Baby Board Book (Caldecott Collection) (Board book)

I'm torn between what I think of the book and what my daughter thinks. She's 17 months old and wants to read this book daily. I, like other reviewers, found the text a bit awkward at first. Now that I've read it aloud about a million times and added my own twists and actions to accompany the story (kisses on the tummy, toes, eyes) I'm getting lulled into liking the book too. I LOVE that the white grandmother has a black grandbaby and that the daddy is a super dad and that there is an asian mother and daughter. The illustrations don't grab me because they have kind of a messy look, but they obviously grab my girl, because she just stares and stares at each page. So...take what you will from this review. For the amount of fun it's given us, despite my initial misgivings, I think it's worth a try. In fact, I'm buying it for a friend's baby for xmas.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb read-aloud for young children, September 14, 2004

By 

Kara Reuter (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: More More More, Said the Baby (Hardcover)

In three separate vignettes, three toddlers are chased, hugged, tickled, cuddled, kissed, and tucked into bed by parents or grandparents until they beg for "more more more." The active physicality of the characters is matched with colloquial, rhythmic language - "Little Pumpkin scoots away so fast Little Pumpkin's grandma has to run like anything just to catch that baby up. But Little Pumpkin's grandma catches that baby up all right." The book is oversized (10"x11") and illustrated with bright and colorful gouache paintings. Each illustration is framed with a colorful border that bleeds to the edge of the page and the text itself is mottled with color. The backgrounds of the illustrations are mostly flat planes of color, putting the focus on the interaction between the children and adults. The three adult-child relationships portrayed represent a racially diverse selection of families, notably including an apparently multiracial child. The story does not necessarily make a subject of ethnicity, however the repetition of many elements among the stories does demonstrate the universality of the affection and tenderness that parents and grandchildren have for their children, perhaps subtly suggesting that this commonality supersedes any superficial difference based on race. The rhythmic language makes this a superb read-aloud book for toddlers and older children of any ethnic makeup. With the final vignette focusing on a sleepy toddler being put to bed, this is also appropriate bedtime or naptime reading.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A simple book of the love of little children., June 1, 1999

By 

R. D. Allison ([e-mail]) (Gainesville, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: "More More More," Said the Baby Board Book (Caldecott Collection) (Board book)

This short book for preschoolers depicts three babys who are playing with, respectively, a father, a grandmother, and a mother. It is simply a story of the love of children. Interestingly, the second child is African-American but the grandmother appears not to be so. This is the first Caldecott book I've seen suggesting the existence of interracial families. If I'm correct, I readily applaud the author. But, even if I'm wrong, it is still a beautiful book of love. The book was a 1991 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., a runner up to the Medal winner) for best illustrations in a book for children.