Hello Baby!
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Lap Listeners stage.
Why it fits Lap Listeners (for babies in their first year, when books are about your voice, not the plot)
A guessing-game rhyme that ends with the best answer of all: the baby on your lap. Animal faces build to the mirror moment infants adore. A gentle 'who are you?' with a perfect payoff.
What makes it special
Fox's guessing-game rhyme builds to the oldest reveal in the world: the baby themselves. Steve Jenkins' torn-paper animals are tactile-looking enough that babies try to pet the pages. It ends every reading with the child affirmed as 'my treasure' — a closing line worth a thousand reads.
From the publisher
A parent questions a child about which kind of animal it…
About Mem Fox
Mem Fox is described on her own site as Australia's foremost writer of picture books for young children; she is a retired Associate Professor of Literacy Studies at Flinders University, where she taught teachers for 24 years. She has written more than 45 children's books, published in 23 languages, plus five non-fiction books for adults including Reading Magic.
Fox was born in Melbourne and grew up in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where her parents were teaching missionaries at Hope Fountain Mission. Possum Magic began as a university course assignment; it was rejected nine times over five years before Omnibus Books took it, and it is now Australia's bestselling children's book.
Also by this author: Possum Magic · Where Is the Green Sheep? · Koala Lou
More from “Faces Like Mine, Faces Like Yours”
This book is part of The Best Books for Babies: 30 Teacher Picks (Lap Listeners) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.