Big, beautiful photos of babies demonstrate a range of infant emotions and the needs they imply.
These head shots of ethnically diverse youngsters show their happy, silly, angry and sad faces, to name a few. In a nice departure from the typical baby-photo board book, each child is named, and the need their facial expression reveals is also explored: “Lucy makes a happy face. Lucy needs a kiss. / Abrahm makes a silly face. Abrahm needs a tickle.” The photos stretch to the edge of the page, and the text, in a simple, strong type, appears on the facing page over soft-colored backgrounds. The usual emotional suspects are here, but there are some clever diversions. In one, a young boy with his mouth and nose impishly scrunched up is paired with the lines, “Henry makes a monkey face. Henry needs a banana.” A small quibble: The photo of Hannah does not look particularly sad, only serious. The final spread breaks from the pattern of the rest of book for Sam’s surprised face, including “Boo!” as a playful last line.
Sure to elicit some parent and child kisses, tickles, cuddles and hugs. (Board book. 3 mos.-18 mos.)
