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“We can’t all walk yet but we’re marching to protest.” This picture book about a crowd of rebellious babies will appeal to the lap-sit audience, who will love the toddlers’ angry body language as they shake plastic rattles and crawl shoulder-to-shoulder carrying posters printed with defiant messages (“No!” “Out of our Way!”), as well as basic, everyday phrases, such as “Goo-Goo” and “Ga-Ga.” Of course, the parody of political demonstration is for the older siblings and adults who will read this lively book aloud to young children, but the words and images tap right into young children’s experiences—what they want and what adults nag about: “We won’t keep our clothes clean. . . . We won’t take our naps. . . . We’re whiny. We’re messy. We’re smelly.” The scenarios of the rebels in action are as much fun as the climax, when they get the snuggle they want. A great early read-aloud, with a thumping, rhythmic text that kids will want to hear many times over. Preschool-Kindergarten. --Hazel Rochman
Review
Review, School Library Journal: "This story may resonate more with beleaguered parents who struggle to get their sometimes uncooperative little ones fed, bathed, and dressed, but the lap set will thoroughly enjoy saying the oft-repeated refrain, “WE’RE A BAREFOOTED BAD-TEMPERED BABY BRIGADE!” Great fun."
Review, Publishers Weekly: "Dockray (The Tushy Book) gleefully and vividly reimagines babies' chunky, blunt physicality as the manifestation of civil disobedience—after closing this book, it will be difficult to look at anyone under 36 months and not see a budding Emma Goldman or Eugene V. Debs."
Review, Booklist: "The scenarios of the rebels in action are as much fun as the climax, when they get the snuggle they want. A great early read-aloud, with a thumping, rhythmic text that kids will want to hear many times over."
I'm a children's book author who lives in Michigan. My books include The Pout-Pout Fish; The Pout-Pout Fish In The Big-Big Dark; and The Barefooted, Bad-Tempered Baby Brigade.
For more information about my books, stop by my web site at www.deborahdiesen.com
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.
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.Read more ›
