Atinuke and Angela Brooksbank, creators of the award-winning Baby Goes to Market, pair up again for a bright and beautiful first book of words.B
is for Baby. B
is for Brother. B
is for going to see Baba! One morning after breakfast, Baby’s big brother is getting ready to take the basket of bananas all the way to Baba’s bungalow in the next village. He’ll have to go along the bumpy road, past the baobab trees, birds, and butterflies, and all the way over the bridge. But what he doesn’t realize is that his very cute, very curious baby sibling has stowed away on his bicycle. Little ones learning about language will love sounding out the words in this playful, vibrantly illustrated story set in West Africa.
Atinuke is a Nigerian-born author who started her career doing traditional oral storytelling. She is the author of
Baby Goes to Market, which was named a Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book and an Africana Best Book. Her other books include a
Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor winner, an International Reading Association Notable Book for a Global Society, and a Cybils Award winner. She lives in Wales.
Angela Brooksbank,
a former designer and art director in children’s book publishing, is the illustrator of
Baby Goes to Market. She lives in London.
Atinuke and Brooksbank (‘Baby Goes to Market’) have created an appealing package of rhythmic repetition and vibrant images.
—The New York Times Book Review
Brooksbank effectively avoids stereotypes while adding humor and cultural specificity to the story with her detailed and lively, colorful, mixed-media images. Safety-conscious caregivers may suck their teeth, but there's no denying the joy in this book. Atinuke has bottled the delightful energy of the Anna Hibiscus books and poured it into this treat for younger readers.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Featuring loose lines and an earth-toned backdrop, Brooksbank’s energetic mixed-media art showcases the brilliant colors of African vegetation and clothing, and infuses Atinuke’s sweet phrases with warmth and humor.
—Publishers Weekly
This clever story puts the focus on the letter B...Each page displays one terse sentence, such as "B is for beautiful." The colorful mixed- media art, however, is expansive, whether showing a single image of a curious baby playing with her toe, or detailing the lush surroundings. This one's a charmer.
—Booklist
Viewers will appreciate this sunny African alternative to “Over the River and Through the Woods,” especially if readers-aloud make the comic most of the concluding speedy rewind that brings the sibs home again.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Atinuke and Brooksbank (
Baby Goes to Market) reunite for another tenderly funny slice-of-life story set in an unspecified African village and starring a winsome baby girl, who is dearly loved...Brooksbank uses warm colors, from the bright beads in Baby’s hair to the green-striped shirt that their Baba (grandfather) is wearing when Brother finally delivers his basket—with a surprise inside. Brava for Baby!
—The Horn Book
The Nigerian-born writer Atinuke plays with our expectations of how ABC books progress with “B Is for Baby” (Candlewick, 32 pages, $16.99), a picture book set in Africa that never moves beyond the one letter...The warm colors and loose lines of Angela Brooksbank’s mixed-media pictures exude happiness and reassurance for readers ages 2-6.
—The Wall Street Journal
With
B Is for Baby, author Atinuke and illustrator Angela Brooksbank (
Baby Goes to Market) reunite for another tenderly funny story set in an unspecified African village and starring a winsome baby girl.
—The Horn Book
