Margaret Anastas

Not one of my favorites for baby storytime, but a solid second tier choice. The text is pretty good; it's a rhyming list of all the different and fun places to kiss a baby and it lends itself well to interaction (One of my main criteria for a good baby storytime book). There's nothing particularly special about the word choice, but the scansion and rhyme scheme aren't at all forced which is a feat unto itself and harder to do than it might seem. The illustrations are where this falls apart a little for me. Susan Winter illustrates using what look like colored pencil and watercolors to me. Her animals are better than her people and make up the majority of the book, but unfortunately the cover is just people. The animals still look somewhat awkward, I think because animals don't naturally kiss each other the way humans do and thus the poses they're in aren't natural. Also the mother/baby characters don't seem to actually touch in the illustrations, they just overlap at the appropriate location. The illustrations are all full-bleed, double-page spreads with soft lines and muted colors. The baby polar bear is particularly cute. Even with these caveats, I would use this for baby storytime again since I struggle to find titles I feel are appropriate for the babies in a group.

Used for Baby Storytime 2/3/2012.… (mais)