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Summary
Summary
Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of an infant is really like? In this bluesy story, sometimes being a baby is enough to make you cry.
Oh, baby, wouldn't it be grand to be a baby? No worries, no woes, the whole world doing everything for you. Like floating down easy street. . . . But wait one guitar-pickin' minute. That's a lie! Babies can't talk, can't walk, can't even really chew. It's enough to make the baby in this story blue, blue, blue. So get ready for a sad tale of soggy diapers, mushy meals, and sleepin' behind bars that may make you cry, too -- but more likely will make you giggle! Jamming with illustrator Lauren Tobia, Carol Diggory Shields gives a tip of the fedora to B.B. King in an ode to babyhood that'll have readers feeling anything but blue.
Author Notes
Carol Diggory Shields is the author of more than twenty books for children, including Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp and The Bugliest Bug, both illustrated by Scott Nash. It was time spent with her three grandbabies that inspired her to write about the challenges of being small and entirely dependent on others. As the sister of a musician, she couldn't help but imagine a baby's woes expressed in bluesy lyrics! Carol Diggory Shields lives in California.
Lauren Tobia says that illustrating Baby's Got the Blues transported her back to the time when her own children were quite young, and even made her reminisce about her own childhood, when she was the big sister. Lauren Tobia is the illustrator of the Anna Hibiscus books, written by Atinuke. She lives in England.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
"I'd like to eat some pizza,/ Macaroni, or beef stew,/ But I haven't got a single tooth,/ So I can't even chew," wails the baby bluesman that Shields (Wombat Walkabout) and Tobia (the Anna Hibiscus books) introduce. Stinky diapers, unsteady legs, and doing time "behind these bars-Is it a crib or is it jail?": who wouldn't feel oppressed? Of course, life isn't really that bad: the baby has a not-disinterested older sister (the princess crown anchored to her head is a nice touch of birth order assertion), a hipster mom (with a snake tattoo!), and the good sense to know that "blues" also rhymes with "I love yous." This portrait of a very modern family-with its skillfully distilled domestic scenes; warm, saturated colors; and empathic, round-headed characters-will remind some of the work of Helen Oxen-bury. Best of all, the text is eminently singable by anyone with even a passing familiarity with Muddy Waters; it could quickly become an all-ages anthem for anyone connected to a newborn. Ages 3-7. Illustrator's agent: Mandy Suhr, Miles Stott Literary Agency. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Who can blame a baby for singing the blues? Representative lyrics from this soulfully silly book (with more parent- than kid appeal): "I'd like to eat some pizza, / Macaroni, or beef stew, / But I haven't got a single tooth, / So I can't even chew." Happily, the conclusion is pop-song upbeat. Tobia uses spare lines to capture the baby's emotions. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Oh baby! It's not easy being an infant. Shields explains all in a text that reads so bluesy, you could almost sing it: I'd like to eat some pizza, / Macaroni, or beef stew, / But I haven't got a single tooth, / So I can't even chew. The amusing text is ramped up several notches by Tobia's terrific artwork. Reminiscent of Bob Graham's art (with realistic characters like the tattooed mom) and in a style resembling Helen Oxenbury's, especially in the look of the children, the pictures are, nonetheless, all her own. Whether full page or vignettes, the delightful pen-and-watercolor artwork focuses in on Baby, who is down in the dumps because he needs a diaper change or has to be a spectator as the older kids play ball. Her neat use of perspective and friendly scenes of family and neighborhood, done in lively colors, with lots of reds and greens and plenty of open space, bring readers right into the story. Finally, the baby blues are drowned in hugs and kisses. What could be happier than that?--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2014 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
"Babies love to play!" begins this silk-screen-style board book, which features simple movable parts. A cardboard-cutout infant can be removed for swaddling and comforting; a real cloth blanket can be tucked in; and a diaper folds over Baby, just for practice. Each little boy and girl pictured is big-eyed and sweet, and Gillingham includes a range of ethnicities. Alongside practical information about infant care, the best lesson of all is that though all babies are individual, each one is adorable. BABY'S GOT THE BLUES By Carol Diggory Shields. Illustrated by Lauren Tobia. 32 pp. Candlewick. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) Shields and Tobia bring an earthy, hip sensibility to these faux-plaintive lyrics sung by a baby with a bad case of the blues. "Woke up this morning soggy,/ And that smell kept getting riper;/ But I can't talk, no way to say,/ 'Won't somebody change my diaper?"' Mom has a snaky tattoo; neighbors are as diverse as New York City; and just like babies everywhere, this one cheers up the minute he gets a cuddle. UPSIDE DOWN BABIES By Jeanne Willis. Illustrated by Adrian Reynolds. 32 pp. Andersen Press. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) When the world turns upside down and babies wind up with the wrong mothers, things get silly fast. "Piglet went ker-plonk in a parrot's nest./ Porky and pink with no feathers on his chest./ 'What a funny baby, no matter how I try,'/ Mommy Parrot said, 'this chick won't fly!' " Willis's rhyming verse is jaunty, studded with nourishing words like "drey" and "carnivore," and takes a delightfully light approach to teaching animal attributes. MAPLE Written and illustrated by Lori Nichols. 36 pp. Nancy Paulsen/Penguin. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6) Maple loves spending time under the tree for which she was named, and treats it like a sibling: lending it her coat when the weather is cold, tossing snowballs at its trunk and playing under its boughs. When a real baby arrives, Maple has to figure out what they can do together. Nichols's depiction of her patient attempts to be a good big sister might be just the thing to encourage children in the same predicament to keep at it. THE BABY TREE Written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. 36 pp. Nancy Paulsen/ Penguin. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) In this engaging answer to the "Where do babies come from?" question, a little boy whose parents tell him they're expecting can only think to ask, "Are there any more Coco Pops?" Later, he hears the first of several puzzling explanations of the process: "You plant a seed and it grows into a baby tree." Blackall brings great charm to everything she draws, and here water-colors of babies nestled on boughs, in birds' eggs and finally, in utero, sweetly and comically separate fact and fiction. ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-"You think babies have it easy?" Not according to the tiny narrator who relates the trials and tribulations of being a helpless babe. When the little one wakes up soggy, there's "no way to say,/'Won't somebody change my diaper?'" When confronted with an enticing spread of pizza, macaroni, and stew, all that baby can eat is strained green goop because "I can't even chew." Baby can't run and jump with the older kids and resents spending time in its crib-"or is it jail?" Each of these complaints culminates in a heartrending blues refrain tailored to the situation. Wet-soaked baby sings, "B-A-B-Y,/ baby,/Got those damp old baby blues." Orange-sleeper-clad infant hangs forlornly over the crib bars whining, "B-A-B-Y,/baby,/Got those locked-up/baby blues." No need to feel sorry for this baby. While the guitars in some of the large illustrations rendered in ink and pencil and assembled digitally reinforce the blues theme, the pictures also reveal an attentive mom and an older sister happily looking on. Mom scoops baby out of the crib "with a 'Kitchy-kitchy-koo!' B-A-B-Y, baby,/Don't you know/we all love you?" This is a story that will enable slightly older children to look back and reminisce about bygone days.-Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A baby sings the blues, naming his many woes in each verse: wet diapers, mushy meals, legs that don't walk quite yet and nap time in a crib that feels more like a cage. Baby endures misery after little misery, while his nearly featureless face relays astonishment, mute pleading and chagrined surrender. Who wants to be stuck in a sling on someone's back, anyway? Older siblings might finally find some empathy for the babies in their lives--and a few laughs too. The brilliant incongruity of a baby and blues music (usually featuring soured romance, bum luck and booze) hits all the right comedic notes. Baby's refrain, repeated after each demoralizing episode, howls out for a singalong: B-A-B-Y, baby, Got thosebaby blues. Tobia's pen-and-ink illustrations beg for repeat visits too, with their refreshing portrayal of a bustling urban family. This mama, sporting a tattoo, tank top and a messy ponytail, takes big sister and baby to a pizza-place play date and then a walk along New York City's High Line. Eye-squinting details (polka dots on the underside of a stuffed bunny's ears, a paisley pattern on a blanket, etc.) and vivid colors energize these wonderfully ordinary scenes of moms and small children. A final verse brings lots of kisses and a smile to baby's face--an unusual end to a blues song, but perfect for this ballad about an infant's everyday frustrations. (Picture book. 2-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
