A Ride on Mother's Back: A Day of Baby Carrying around the World [Hardcover]

Emery Bernhard (Author), Durga Bernhard (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996 | Age Range: 4 - 8 years | Lexile Measure: 940L (What's this?)

Through a steamy rain forest in Brazil, along a river in Papua New Guinea, across a frozen inlet in the arctic, this book takes young children on a far-reaching journey to discover how babies worldwide are carried and what they see from their unique vantage points. “This is an exquisite book, for the detailed, folk-art style gouache illustrations, its overall design, and the wealth of information it includes.”--Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2?This lovely book looks at how people from various countries carry their youngsters while going about their daily chores. Each double-page spread introduces a different culture from a child's point of view. Gouache paintings done in rich, deeply saturated colors appear opposite a page of simple text that explains a little bit about the people and their activities. The artwork conveys the action clearly and provides an appealing glimpse of each locale. At the end of the book, explanatory notes offer additional details. On the end papers, a map of the world shows the approximate location of the people depicted in the text. Young readers will notice the similarities among these diverse groups, not only in the ways babies are carried but also in some of the caregivers' chores. Use this book with Ann Morris's Bread, Bread, Bread (Lothrop, 1989), Edith Baer's This Is the Way We Go to School (Scholastic, 1992), Norah Dooley's Everybody Cooks Rice (Carolrhoda, 1991), or Nigel Gray's A Country Far Away (Orchard, 1989) to celebrate our multicultural world.?Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5^-7. As her mother makes tortillas, a Guatemalan infant is rocked in a shawl tied around her mother's body. Riding in a sling balanced on his grandfather's hip, a young boy watches his father gather honey in the rain forest of central Africa. Bernhard maintains "we can learn about a culture by finding out how its people carry their babies," but in this book, how the children are carried seems of lesser importance then what they see from their unusual vantage points. Short, simple descriptions of the daily activities going on around the infants are accompanied by colorful, primitive-style gouache paintings depicting the landscape and the dress of the people. A section of notes, with background information and interesting tidbits about each culture, is appended. Lauren Peterson

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 - 8 years
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 1st edition (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152008705
• ISBN-13: 978-0152008703
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 11.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!! December 8, 2000

By Kelly TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

My two year old daughter and I really enjoy this book! The illustrations are very colorful and vibrant. I love the fact that she is learning about different cultures in a fun context. We really enjoy reading this book togther and discussing the pictures and what the babies and mommies and daddies and grandparents are doing. This is a truly wonderful book that depicts babies as a sweet part of daily life - not seperate from it. This book also validates our way of life for our daughter [breastfeeding and carrying her in a sling]. Its a really nice book all the way around. I look forward to reading it for years to come.

Update 11/2010 - ten years later and we still read this book on a regular basis. I am on "baby" #6 now, who is the current "two year old" and she loves this beautiful book just as much as the first baby did - and all the babies in between. This is a timeless, wonderful book. Buy it! :)

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Multiculturalism at its best! March 15, 2005

By waldorf_curric VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I was a little surprised to read so many reviews which focused on the baby carrying aspect of this book. Yes, in every example the child is carried by a family member. Children are woven into the fabric of our lives and this books shows that very well. But what I find most fascinating about this lovely book -- and what my daughter loves too -- is the sheer diversity of regions and lifestyles covered.

Each two page spread (one large illustration, one page of text) contains two paragraphs of detailed kid-friendly information. In just a few sentences you learn where the people live, what their climate and culture is like, and how they support their families. Although it is extremely informative, the tone is very warm and not at all dry -- your chid will not feel as though he is being subjected to a geography lesson! Many pages talk about the gathering of food and I find it fascinating to see the number of differences among us. Yet each family is tied together by the shared love of their children. It is a wonderful and reassuring message: we are different yet we are the same. Another thing I especially like about this book is that it takes place in one day -- the pages go from dawn to dark -- and you can see how the day unfolds all around the world.

The inside front and back covers of the book show a map of the world and the location of each family. The last few pages of the book also give additional information about each culture. The author and illustrator did an excellent job of demonstrating true diversity. Although we are used to seeing "multiculturalism" in the form of token comments about other regions of the world (often the same regions each time!), this book does an outstanding job.... No one culture gets more exposure than another and the information is presented in a respectful way.

Lastly, the peoples shown in this book are: the Maya, the Balinese, the Mbuti, the Tuareg, the Inuit, the Mandingo, the Hmong, the Yanomama, the Nepali, the Papuans, and the Quechua. I highly recommend this book for all young children. It could also be used very effectively in teaching, as was pointed out in an earlier review. Read more ›

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, cultural, family book October 8, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I enjoy this book as much as my daughter does. It's refreshing to see the many ways parents around the world carry their children with them and involve them in the adults' daily activities. I also like that my daughter sees a book reflecting other cultures and grows up with more of a global sense rather than being US-centric.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars World wide, Children and families benefit from babywearing. July 15, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Beautiful visual and written images of babies and children from many cultures being carried in wraps and slings, on backs and in arms, as families work and play together. Babywearing and breastfeeding are depicted in harmony with the family's daily life. Babies and children are shown learning from their close proximity to Mother and other family members. I get the same feeling of inner peace from this book that I receive in wearing my own babies and it is a joy to share this book with my children and others.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book for the Classroom June 28, 2001

By Megan Cooke

Format:Hardcover

I wish I'd had this book when I was teaching! A Ride On Mother's Back provides myriad opportunities for discussion and further reading. I was especially pleased to see a sister and even a grandfather 'wearing' their respective babies in this delightful world tour. The book presents a wide variety of cultures while providing a comforting commonality -- people everywhere loving their babies, and babies everywhere being included in community life. The book even provides a short appendix in which you'll find brief information about each culture presented (what a great way to encourage further research)and a pronunciation guide for the names of the cultures. One tiny criticism: the author doesn't provide pronunciation hints for the names of the individuals in the book. I'd like to be able to pronounce the names as accurately as possible. This book inspired my 3 1/2 yr. old daughter to look at the children's atlas that she'd been ignoring since last Christmas, and has sparked her interest in geography. Our well-loved copy is dog-eared and worn -- what better recommendation could a book have?

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good non-specific portrayals, some inaccuracies October 15, 2005

By Stell Michelsen

Format:Hardcover

I picked up this book at an LLL meeting, because I thought it would be a fun thing to share with my kids, given my own current babywearing passion. However, after flipping through it, I wasn't happy with it enough to take it home with me. As a nice overview for kids, showing babies getting carried everywhere by family, it's a cute book. And the back has a section listing little facts about each of the tribal societies pictured in the book. What disappointed me was the lack of carrier names (i.e. Rebozo, MeiTai, Amauti, etc.), and the fact that the Inuit page said that the baby rides in the hood of his mother's parka, which is horribly inaccurate and furthers the view that tribal baby carriers are unsafe and could use modern improvement.

Overall, it's a cute book - it was only my perfectionistic, critical side that didn't like it.