I had mixed feelings about this book of poems after reading it. I liked some of the poems, but I did not like others. One thing that I liked was the style of writing of the poems. The author was very engaging and funny with his ideas. For example, “The Sausage Whistler” was a humorous poem because it talked about sausages getting up and dancing on the floor. In addition, the poems rhymed, so it was easy to get engaged and keep a good pace while reading. Something that I did not like about this book was the plot of the some of the poems. For instance, some poems did not rhyme and they lacked an organized structure and pace. Some of the poems lost my interest because I didn’t follow the point that they were trying to reach. I think that this was a good book, but I also think that readers are very different and not every reader is going to like every single poem. The big idea of these poems focuses on humor in relation to many different topics, including humans, animals, and creatures that do not exist. ( )

Summary: Everybody was a Baby Once is a book composed of a variety of short poems. The poems varied in length and subject matter, but for the most part they were things young children would find entertaining and humorous. The poems varied in complexity so I would say third or fourth grade would be a good age group to read and understand the collection as a whole. The illustrations are similar to the ones you would see in the cartoon section of the newspaper, simple yet effective.

Personal Reaction: Some of the poems did not make a whole lot of sense to me, but I would think that the author was targeting a younger age group with his writings and I am simple over thinking the stories. I did find some of the poems to be somewhat humorous and entertaining. I also enjoyed the variety of colors used in the illustrations, they were very visually appealing.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. Discuss the different types of poetry
2. Create an entertaining poem to describe ourselves, classmates, or class as a whole.

Contains over 20 easy-to-read poems about a variety of topics for little kids: "The Good Old Dolls," "If You Meet a Witch," and "Soccer Sonnet." Great text for beginning readers with the rhyming.

Awards/Reviews:
Booklist 04/01/10
Publishers Weekly 02/08/10
Horn Book 10/01/10
Wilson's Children 10/01/10

This book would be a creative way to use excerpted poems from it that would tie into health classes.

This is NOT poetry about babies, but a witty and often times hilarious collection of playful poems about the every day life of young children and the creative things they think about. The variety of styles, some only a couplet to one with 6 stanzas, keep the reader interested. The delightful illustrations not only enhance the text but in one poem, “The Summer Snowmen”, cleverly finishes the thought with a wordless two-page spread. The format uses the element of illustrative surprise a number of times where suspense is climaxed by turning the page to an illustrative page with one line of closing text. For instance, in “Elephants vs Insects”, the soccer players ask why the centipede can’t play until the second half, and we find on the next page a picture illustrating the answer. Topics include sports, seasons and holidays, children’s play, toys, monsters, and of course babies. My favorite is “Monster Munch” with its surprising play on words, which is sure to get a scream out of children! While the cover indicates that it’s for “ages 2 and up” it is better suited for a little older child who will appreciate the playfulness of words. Highly recommended. Ages 3-7. ( )