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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | EASY LUN | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Lund shares a beautiful touching, funny story about a youngster who wants to know all about when she was born. Full color.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-A little girl asks her mother to tell the story of her birth. Her prompts are evidence that she's heard the tale many times before, but can't hear it often enough. At the conclusion of Mama's loving reminiscence, readers learn that the family is awaiting the arrival of another child. The youngster is reassured that "the new baby will have its own story" and "You'll still have yours." The fluid, primarily pastel watercolors portray both the preschooler's playful buoyancy and her mother's gentle love. While not exceptional, this appealing treatment of the topic will reassure siblings that they still have a special place in their parents' hearts. Debra Frasier's On the Day You Were Born (Harcourt, 1991) addresses the subject of birth in a more universal manner. Jamie Lee Curtis's Tell Me Again about the Night I Was Born (HarperCollins, 1996) recounts the story of a birth and adoption.-Heide Piehler, Shorewood Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In Lund's (Dinosailors) sweet and sensitive imminent-sibling tale, a preschooler asks her very pregnant mother for "the story about when I was inside you." Nakata (Lucky Pennies and Hot Chocolate), like the insightful mother she portrays, keeps Mama's condition a secret from readers until the final pages, allowing them (again, like Mama) to focus on the girl's story. Mama, an expert raconteur, uses vivid and often comic detail to give depth to her unadorned language. "I bumped into people because I forgot how large I was. And Daddy pushed me up hills when we went for walks." The girl eagerly participates in shaping the narrative. Her attentive face appears in miniature at the bottom right corner of the flashback spreads; she asks questions ("How did you get to be so big?") and adds elements she relishes from previous tellings ("And I was mad!" she gleefully recounts of her noisy delivery-room debut). Nakata fills the diagonal space between Mama's and the girl's comments with pastel watercolors that seem as light as air. Yet every scene percolates with the excitement of parental anticipation and a knowing, warmhearted sense of humor (Daddy's first-time-father anxieties-often manifested in his inability to keep his glasses on-make for an effective running joke). The story ends on a simply articulated but enormously reassuring note: "The new baby will have its own story," Mama tells her daughter. "You'll still have yours." The shelf of new baby books may be crowded, but it's well worth making room for this graceful, gently funny entry. Ages 3-5. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
A girl asks her mother to tell her the story of her birth, which, based on her interjections (""And then there was a snowstorm""), she has clearly heard before. Illustrated in a muted palette, the book is notable for the specifity of Mama's account and for the final revelation that Mama is pregnant: as Mama notes, the baby will have ""its own story. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Awaiting the arrival of her sibling, a young toddler is regaled with tales of the story regarding her own birth. Lund's prose neatly captures the natural conversational rhythm between tot and parent. As the mother reminisces, the child eagerly interjects with comments and questions, reveling in the notion that she too made her mommy's belly so big that her mom had to be pushed up hills and so forth. Liberally laced with humorous anecdotes, Lund offers a toddler-friendly, generalized version of pregnancy and birth and the surrounding emotions. Readers searching for technical description of gestation and birth will need to look elsewhere. Nakata's watercolor illustrations are colorful and comic. Soft tones dominate the paintings, which portray both the current and historical events. The mother's reminiscences are delineated by amoeba-like borders with a small vignette of the toddler's gleeful reactions included in the corner of each spread. Warm-hearted and compassionate, this tale is ideal for sharing with expectant siblings, who will appreciate this subtle reminder of their own individuality. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
PreS-K. Tell me the story about when I was inside you, Mama, says an eager little girl as her mother knits. In watercolor scenes that alternate between past and present, the mother remembers favorite stories, prompted by the girl, who has clearly heard all this before: Tell about my foot. And then there was a snowstorm. Now comes the special part. The special part is the actual birth, in a hospital, when mother, father, and baby see each other for the first time. The last spread returns to the present, revealing that Mama is pregnant again. The new baby will have its own story, the wise girl realizes, but that doesn't bother her: I'll still have mine. In simple, musical words, Lund tells a tender story in vignettes that transition nicely to the final surprise, as Nakata's airy illustrations, in dabs and washes of sheer, pastel color, capture the story's free-flowing movement between then and now. A lovely choice for children anticipating a sibling. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2004 Booklist
