Crybaby

Reviewed by: Carla McAllister - New Gloucester Public Library, New Gloucester, Maine, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: February 17, 2016

Review

It's a quiet night on a quiet street when the silence is shattered by a crybaby...a little baby wakes up wailing and everyone around her is awoken and tries to do his or her best to soothe the disgruntled little one. Parents, siblings, grandparents and even neighbors attempt everything from feeding, burping, a diaper change, rocking, and all imaginable forms of entertainment to return the crybaby to her slumber.One two page layout is all illustrations with hula hooping, a rabbit being pulled out of a hat, a neighbor balancing a chair on his nose, juffling and bubble-blowing, to no positive effect. Roy, the family's big black labrador is completely ignored but could he be the one with the solution? With busy and colorful endpapers, one wonders if a particularly attentive child will find the sheep that is different from all the others. The illustrations are extremely colorful and employ collage-like and cut-out characters to make for very interesting,active and unusual pictures that do a good job of complementing the text. Repeated, cummulative refrains make for an amusing readaloud that children will chime in on. They will especially enjoy the p-e-e-u-u-w-w the dirty diaper engenders.

Overall Book Score: very good