Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Rocking rhyme accompanies images of mostly bearded caregivers spending time with small children throughout this energetic picture book. The adult-child duos make the most of ordinary places in which they find themselves--on the sofa, at the park, in the store. Together, they experiment with playing guitar ("Your drumming,/ my strumming"), pounding on pots and pans in a kitchen ("Your beats./ My treats"), dancing to music played on vinyl ("You show me your drop;/ I'll show you my flop"), and letting loose at a supermarket ("My boogie,/ your woogie"). Working in textured acrylic paint, colored pencil, and collage, Qualls (Frances in the Country) portrays the twosomes with various skin tones and hair textures; incorporates kinetic-feeling movement that tracks with the text; and includes background bubbles, stars, and wafting ribbons that seem to represent music and sound. In equally energetic words, McGhee (World So Wide) celebrates unconditional love, not just for an infant's actions or potential, but for their existence in the present moment. Singing, yelling, and dancing, each adult hints, it's all "already perfect to me." Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Sara Crowe, Sara Crowe Literary. Illustrator's agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (Oct.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Baby-Toddler--Qualls's outstanding textured, mixed-media illustrations perfectly complement McGhee's rhyming and rhythmic affirmation of all that is baby. A diverse cast of male-presenting caregivers are shown enjoying time with their babies while doing a variety of activities--cooking, dancing, jamming on pots and pans and guitar, and giving high fives. Collage work using a variety of papers, including text-print with an overlay of what look like gelatin plate-printed textures in blues, yellows, pinks, and purples add grit to this joy-filled world while snappy wordplay--"your beats, my treats" and "your grand plié, my petit jeté"--will keep baby's ears as happy as their eyes. This is a perfect baby/toddler story time read-aloud that lets babies of every race and age know that they are perfect for just being. Tender and loving, without a hint of sappy. VERDICT Highly recommended for all collections.--Hillary Perelyubskiy
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
McGhee and Qualls present an exuberant celebration of dads and their babies. A recurring, multiracial cast of father-and-baby pairs enacts the fun, with McGhee's rhythmic, rhyming text backgrounding the mood: "Give me that tie / and I'll tie you a bow, // Give me your foot and I'll give you a toe. // Your drumming, my strumming. // Your beats. / My treats." In Qualls's illustrations, a baby plays with some neckties before their father fashions one into a bow for his little one; another one balances on their pop's feet while they dance together in the living room; yet another tot gleefully bashes pots and pans while their dad cobbles together a fruit cup. While there's nothing in the text to suggest that the narrative voice is male, all the parent figures present as such, and one sports a T-shirt that reads "SUPER DAD." Qualls's trademark bubbles and swirls decorate the pages, the mixed-media application -- acrylic paint, colored-pencil, and collage -- lending the compositions an improvisational DIY look that suits these dads' collective aspiration for their babies: "Wherever you are and whoever you'll be / just know that you're already perfect for me. // My baby, oh baby, oh baby, just...BE." In a market where the mother-child bond is still more prominently featured than that between fathers and their children, this bouncy outing, while not exactly unique, feels fresh. Vicky SmithNovember/December 2023 p.63 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A celebration of the bonds between caregivers and their children. This rhyming picture book opens with an image of a young child and a parent winking and trading high fives in a meadow. As the narrative continues, readers get a window into the lives of numerous other pairings of babies and male-presenting caretakers: a bearded adult in a hat and tracksuit spinning records for a dancing child, a bearded caregiver in a durag fastening a tie around a child's neck, and a bespectacled, aproned caretaker dancing to the beat a child plays on a set of pots and pans. Written from the point of view of an adult speaking to a child, the book relies on a deliciously fun choice of words: "My wiggle, / your woggle. / My swing, / and your zing." The book ends with the adult's assurance that the child is perfect just the way they are and that they should continue to "just BE." The takeaway is clear--the adult will support this treasured little one no matter what life brings. The exuberant text and whimsical illustrations, rendered in colored pencil, collage, and acrylic, make for a sweetly energetic read-aloud. The pictures feature characters with a variety of skin tones and hair textures. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A tender, lyrical offering conveying a message of unconditional love. (Picture book. 1-3) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
