Beastly Babies

May 4, 2015
In this survey of animal offspring whose habitats range from the backyard to polar regions and the savannah, Wenzel (Some Bugs) wrangles species into wonderfully improbable compositions (a quail family dances in the spray from a baby’s whale’s spout, while a little dromedary mischievous spits on the whale’s nose) and vivid single-animal vignettes (a baby tiger goes on a hunt with its mother, but can’t even catch her tail let alone dinner). The visual magic of these pictures has two sources: the range of materials he employs and the animals’ intense, wide-eyed gazes, which bring to mind Sumerian temple figures and give even the tiniest critter a powerful emotional presence. Hopscotching over the messes animal babies tend to make and the ways they misbehave, Jackson’s (Tooling Around) brief rhymes can be innocuous (“Making mischief,/ having fun,/ each is precious,/ every one”), but they also have an infectious rhythm, and they get an additional goose of energy from the book’s quirky typography. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Kendra Marcus, BookStop Literary Agency.

May 1, 2015
A simple rhyming text celebrates some shared characteristics of baby animals. Jackson catalogs a variety of animal offspring ("Babies can be smooth or hairy, / quail or whale or dromedary") and their behaviors: "Tiger babies pounce and fail / when they aim for mama's tail"; "Baby buffalo get grumpy. / Baby kangaroos get jumpy." The rhymes have a brisk quality that will keep the pages turning. Wenzel's bright illustrations, "rendered in almost everything imaginable," will grab the attention of small listeners. The wild profusion of young creatures, leaping, tumbling, and running as animal parents hover and peer from foliage nearby, is hilarious. All have round eyes and a kind of manic look, on the stern side for the parents (perfect in the cranky protectiveness of the mama tiger) but ready to go and full of spark for the babies. Jackson uses the mostly frowned-upon "octopi" as a plural for "octopus" (possibly for the sake of scansion) but otherwise seems to avoid zoological missteps. The unspoken reassurance-all babies are loved-is there, along with the important affirmation that growing up is both a little bit messy and a little bit chaotic. Toddlers may especially relish their status as creatures slightly older than babies while enjoying the affectionate tone of the text and art. Lots of fun. (Picture book. 2-5)

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June 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 2-All kinds of babies appear in this cheerful tribute to mothers and their children. From a human infant to a newborn sloth, all of the babies have one thing in common; they are loved unconditionally by their mothers. Told in rhyming verse, the story showcases sea creatures, barnyard animals, African fauna, and household pets. All of the beastly babies are "Making mischief/having fun, /each is precious/every one." Tipping her hat to the circle of life, Jackson ends the narrative by observing that when the little ones grow up, they will be blessed with "beastly babies of their own." Drawn with bold lines and bright colors, the mixed-media illustrations add a sense of wonder to the story. The wide-eyed animals cavort, splash, and charge across the pages in a swirl of joyous activity. Share with fans of Marion Dane Bauer's My Mother Is Mine (S. & S., 2009), which is told from the youngster's point of view. VERDICT Young animal lovers will laugh out loud at the high-spirited antics of these beastly babies.-Linda L. Walkins, Saint Joseph Preparatory High School, Boston, MA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2015
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* If there's one thing parents know, it's that babies, as much as we may love them, are exhausting. And as this book shows, that's true in the animal kingdom as well. This tongue-in-cheek offering takes readers through some of those babies' more, well, beastly aspects: they're loud, they're messy, and they never stop moving! This amusing read-aloud is made more enjoyable by carefully crafted rhymes that delight both in their simplicity ( Puppies slobber / kittens spill / young gorillas can't sit still ) and their cleverness ( Babies can be smooth or hairy, / quail or whale or dromedary ). The madcap, colorful illustrations are a joy: multimedia animals layer brightly over a white background, and, comically, the animals are all given particularly expressive eyeballs. Children of the human variety will be engaged by the mischievous antics of their animal counterparts, while parents will find kindred spirits in the depictions of exhausted, exasperated animal parents. Marvelously executed and affectionately crafted, this is a standout in the parents-and-children canon that promises, like its subject, to age well.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)