My First Five Years/Atop of Towels: A Record of Early Childhood [Hardcover]

Anne Geddes (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The children's photographer, Anne Geddes, may be best known as "the one who does those cute pictures of the babies in the flowers." This build-your-own scrapbook features flower pictures, babies dressed as bumble bees, babies on pumpkins, babies, babies, and more babies. Geddes's babies are adorable without being too "cute" and the scrapbook itself is great fun to look at, whether or not you manage to get the photos pasted in, the locks of hair snipped, and the details (weight at six months, first tooth lost) entered. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Brilliantly and beautifully illustrated by Anne Geddes superb photographs, My First Five Years is a wonderful record book to store a parents memories of all the firsts and milestones of a baby's progress for the first five years beginning with the birth and moving on through Christmas holidays, vacations, birthdays, the Tooth Fairy, handprints, footprints, star signs, birth stones, flowers, clothes and much, much more. Cedco, principally known as an outstanding publisher of calendars, have applied their expertise to produce a book that will become as treasured as the family Bible and the photo album. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 81 pages
• Publisher: Cedco Publishing Company (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559120215
• ISBN-13: 978-1559120210
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,800,938 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The First Artful Baby Book, March 30, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 97,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: My First Five Years : Teddy Bear (Hardcover)

Unlike Ms. Geddes's other works, this one is designed to create the history of your child's first five years. It is not a book of baby photography although it certainly contains some.

I usually don't enjoy looking at baby books because they are so poorly designed and produced. But I look at them anyway because they contain the first lock of hair, the first little footprint, photographs lying on a rug, and other precious momentos that are so rewarding. Ms. Geddes has overcome the traditional baby book weaknesses by combining her trademark "organic" photographs of babies (in animal, insect, and flower costumes) with a nice design to create a truly beautiful book to record a young person's first five years. The book does have a major drawback in that too few pages are allowed in many sections to capture all of the momentos (such as photographs) that you will want to keep.

Most of the images in the book seem to be taken from Down in the Garden, her best book, so you should fall in love with the illustrations. These images are small and secondary to the book's function so I will omit my usual list of favorites.

The sections in the book include:

My Birth; Momentos; Newspaper Clippings; Comments; Visitors and Gifts; Signs; Names; Family Tree; 3, 6, and 9 Month Highlights; Milestones; Food; 1st Christmas; 1st Vacation; First through Fifth Birthdays; Clothes; Best Friends; Pre-School; Kindergarten; Drawings; Writing; Health; Height; Weight; Teeth; Tooth Fairy; Hands and Feet Prints; Birth Month Flowers and Stones.

I think the way to evaluate this book is to imagine that you are now about to start living on your own. What would you think of the parents who bought and lovingly filled in such a delightful book for you?

Since you cannot hope to put enough photographs into this book, I suggest that you make a separate scrap book for special photographs of your child.

This book would be a great gift to expecting parents.

I suggest that you consider making a similar book for your parents (at any age) that captures your recollections and momentos of them in a way that they would enjoy.

Make life more beautiful for everyone!

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunningly beautiful and creative photographs!, October 6, 1999

By	Dr. DR "Bronx shrink" (Bronx, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My First Five Years (Hardcover)

I received three baby record books and this was the most beautiful! The photographs are so colorful and creative. I think my little one will be able to enjoy the book as he grows. The record part of the book is also interesting and thorough in terms of leaving space for the things you most want to remember about your child's growth.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best baby book around, March 3, 1999

By	Allison Stacey ([e-mail]) (Yokota Air Base, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My First Five Years/Atop of Towels: A Record of Early Childhood (Hardcover)

I really recomend this book for your newborn child. I had bought this one cause the book I wanted by Anne Geddes was no longer available. But I am sure glad that I did. It is the most beautiful Baby book that I have ever seen. Then to get the corrosponding brother/sister book by Anne Geddes really keeps it great. The pictures are beautiful and really fit for the ages as they grow up. I really recomend this book for your own child or as a gift for that mother to be. I know I would have loved it at my baby shower.