cover image Happy Birth Day!

Happy Birth Day!

Robie H. Harris. Candlewick Press (MA), $17.99 (32pp) ISBN 978-1-56402-424-4

The first moments and hours after a baby is born are among life's most precious. Here, that special interlude of newness and wonder is shared with young readers, who invariably delight in hearing about the day they arrived in the world. Harris addresses this audience directly: ""Suddenly there you were--a whole new person, our baby! We saw all of you from head to toe and we loved you the moment we saw you."" All the milestones of a baby's first day are lovingly chronicled, from the first cry and the snipping of the umbilical cord to the cuddling, the nursing--even the first burp and yawn. Tenderness flows like a current throughout the warmhearted prose and the gentle, sweeping lines of Emberley's realistic artwork. With its oversize format and large-as-life illustrations, this book telegraphs a sense of immediacy that makes it all the more appealing. Ages 3-8. (July)