Baby Steps - Hardcover

McCarty, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805059539 ISBN 13: 9780805059533

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2000

Synopsis

A lovely and loving record of a baby's first year.

This is baby Suki.
She is one day old.
The nurse wraps her tightly in a blanket.
We call her our little burrito.

As little Suki grows bigger with each passing month, she reaches the milestones that every child does in the magical first year of life. At three months she claps her hands and squeals with delight. At nine months she visits the beach and plays with her mother at the water's edge. Soon it's time for Suki to celebrate her first birthday.

Peter McCarty chronicles the early months of his daughter's life in exquisite pencil drawings and tender, evocative prose that will resonate with anyone who has ever watched a child grow. Baby Steps, a wonderful gift book for new parents, is also just right for sharing with toddlers who love to look at pictures of babies and point out all the things they can do.

About this title

About the Author

Peter McCarty is the author and illustrator of T Is for Terrible, and Hondo and Fabian, for which he won a Caldecott Honor. He is a graduate of the New York School of Visual Arts, where he currently teaches. Mr. McCarty lives in Upstate New York with his wife, their daughter, who inspired Baby Steps when she was a baby, and their son.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 2-Pencil drawings on ivory paper accompany a simple text that describes the author's baby, Suki, month by month, from her birth to her first birthday. Although the book mimics a photo album, it is much more than that. The illustrations are amazing in their simplicity, managing to capture small moments in meticulous detail. Suki's personality grows along with her size, and as her world expands, McCarty portrays her lying on the grass; sitting on the beach with her mother hovering over her; and standing next to an ottoman, turning around to reveal eyes wide in amazement at her own achievement. Finally, on her first birthday, she poses in her special dress and then, on the next page, takes her first step. There is little story here, but the pictures are outstanding and radiate love on every page.
Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Youngsters can observe, month by month, the first year of a little one's life in this tender tribute to babyhood, designed like a handsome family album. Based on the author's recollections of his own daughter, the soft, finely detailed pencil sketches evoke the realism of black-and-white photographs, deftly capturing every nuance in a series of expressive poses. Baby Suki is a charmer, whether sitting quietly in a bouncy chair observing the world around her, napping under a blanket with hands closed into dimpled fists, playing at the beach or standing with a bit of support. Children will enjoy watching her development as they learn how they themselves matured. McCarty's pared-down prose, as adept as his artwork, chronicles his daughter's changes from a one-day-old infant swaddled tightly in a blanket ("We call her our little burrito") through a stage at two months when she demands to be held in the air ("With her fat cheeks and pink pajamas, she looks like a flying piglet") to her first steps as a one-year-old ("Go, Suki, go!"). A prime choice for lap-time read-alouds, this winsome picture book should evoke fond memories from parents while prompting enthusiastic recognition in toddlers. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 3-5. With the clarity of black-and-white photos, this small, simple book of pencil illustrations and brief text introduces baby Suki, month by month. There's Suki, one day old, wrapped in a blanket; at 3 months, she sits in her bouncy chair; her mother carries her dressed in a snowsuit at 4 months; by 11 months she is flipping through a book; at a year, she walks. There are several books that cover this territory, most recently, The Baby Dances by Kathy Henderson (1999). This spare treatment of baby's first year is the opposite of Henderson's lush volume, but it is equally effective. The simplicity may especially appeal to big brothers and sisters who are the book's logical audience. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805059539
• ISBN 13: 9780805059533
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: McCarty Peter
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32