Said the Baby Board Book (Caldecott Collection) - More More More

This book has three really short, engaging little stories in it, that all follow the same pattern. There are three different baby-caregiver pairs (in other words, it's not just a mommy and a baby three times), and and the characters have different skin tones. But the text is really difficult to read. The multi-colored font used on the cover is used through the whole book - which sounds like a good idea, until you're trying to figure out where the letters end and the similarly-colored backgrounds begin.

It's pretty repetitive. I think it would annoy me to read to my children.

There's no real message, just a bunch of kids running and playing chase with their caregivers, and the caregiver "catches them up" and gives them physical affection and the children appreciate it and request more. That's it.

It's very obviously ethnically and familially diverse. There's a white little boy and his dad, a black androgynous child with a white grandmother, and an Asian little girl and her Asian mother. That's it. The multiculturalism is almost Caldecott-bait. It's like it was specifically written to appeal to givers of children's book awards. It's not a bad message, actually, probably not a message at all. Not bad, but not very interesting.

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Vera B. Williams' "More More More Said the Baby" is a modern-day classic. Given as a baby gift to our now-much-older son, this instantly became a family favorite. It fairly radiates joy, both via the simple text--which centers on the deliciousness of hugging, kissing, cuddling, roughhousing, and tickling--and via the sumptuous pictures.
Williams has done something transformative here with the illustrations, making everyday scenes into modern Rousseau sequences--there is a wildness and an energy and a saturation of delicious color that call to mind some of the French master's more wild scenes (not to mention Gauguin and van Gogh's juicy color choices). Both a treat to look at and a pleasure to read!

This children's book is a collection of three love stories told in gouache paintings. In it, we see the love of a father, a mother, and a grandmother for the children in their care. It's playful and heartwarming. The repetition can easily be turned into a song for your littlest ones. Pretty soon they'll be chanting for more, more, more.

This Caldecott Honor Book is a good choice for children of color who have care givers of another race. Use the book to start a conversation about their feelings on being 'happy in their own skin.'

Also available in Spanish.

Listen. Learn. Love.

--
Linda Leigh Hargrove is the author of two works of fiction: The Making of Isaac Hunt (2007) and Loving Cee Cee Johnson (2008). Her writings blend suspense, humor, and faith into compelling stories about race and class in America.

This short book for preschoolers depicts three babys who are playing with, respectively, a father, a grandmother, and a mother. It is simply a story of the love of children. Interestingly, the second child is African-American but the grandmother appears not to be so. This is the first Caldecott book I've seen suggesting the existence of interracial families. If I'm correct, I readily applaud the author. But, even if I'm wrong, it is still a beautiful book of love. The book was a 1991 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., a runner up to the Medal winner) for best illustrations in a book for children.

Williams, V. B. (1990). More, more, more said the baby. New York: Greenwillow Books.
Synopsis: The book contains three short stories about babies and the adults that love them. The first story is about a Caucasian father and his baby, Little Guy. Little Guy and his daddy swing and play together and Little Guy want to play more. The second story is about an African American grandmother and her grandchild, Little Pumpkin. Little Pumpkin's grandmother tickles her and plays with her toes, and Little Pumpkin wants more. The third story is about an Asian American mother and her baby, Little Bird. Little Bird's mama has to put her tired baby to bed.
Evaluation: This picture book has beautiful gouache illustrations that are bright and colorful. Vera Williams makes it easy for the reader to picture playing with an infant or young child through both the text and illustrations. All three babies in the book could represent your next door neighbor, a sibling, or a child. The book does a wonderful job of creating a child's desire for lots of positive adult interaction. Young children will be interested in this book because of the inviting illustrations and relating to the experiences of being tickled, chased, and loved. Adults will enjoy the loving reminder of enjoying the simple things in life like a laughing or sleeping child.

i love that there are so many colours (including the people) in this cute little story. my daughter (2 years) loves this book so much that i can't keep getting it from the library--i have to buy it! she loves when i kiss her belly button and her toes and her eyes and nose when i read the book to her. it's nice that the book starts out lively (Little Guy runs so fast, Little Guy's daddy has to run like anything just to catch that baby up!) and ends nice and quiet (Little Bird falls asleep so fast, Little Bird's mama has to run so fast just to catch that baby up.). it's a lovely bedtime, or anytime story.

At 17 months, this book couldn't hold my daughter's attention; now, at 2 years of age, she squeals, "More! More! More!" as I read through the text. The pictures are fun to look at and the text is simple. The best thing about this book is that it covers 3 family units of different ethnic backgrounds (including a bi-racial grandmother and grandchild). I love that my daughter sees that, no matter the skin color, there's love in every family. It's a cute book that you won't mind reading over and over ... and over ... again.

At 17 months, this book couldn't hold my daughter's attention; now, at 2 years of age, she squeals, "More! More! More!" as I read through the text. The pictures are fun to look at and the text is simple. The best thing about this book is that it covers 3 family units of different ethnic backgrounds (including a bi-racial grandmother and grandchild). I love that my daughter sees that, no matter the skin color, there's love in every family. It's a cute book that you won't mind reading over and over ... and over ... again.

Reading some of the negative reviews, I was a little apprehensive about the text, but on receiving the parcel I opened the book and with no problem, read it for the first time, out loud. The words tripped easily and joyfully off my tongue and I had no difficulty at all reading them - despite the colourful lettering, the text is large on most pages and distinct enough from the rest of the picture. The rhythm is like natural, playful speech and just the sort of thing one says to babies. Those who find it awkward must be reading it totally the wrong way or else are verbally challenged? As for the art work, it is full of movement, energy and colour, and while not conventionally 'pretty' in depicting the adults, is probably quite a true representation of most of us. If you don't happen to like it, your children undoubtedly will. My two year old son really enjoys the pictures and the stories, is delighted by the babies, and completely relates to the adults, too. Don't be put off by those unfortunate negative reviews.

Using the rhythmic, sing-song voice baby experts call "motherese," I have read this book every night, sometimes 2-3 times by request, since my son, now 4, was a baby. In the past two years, we haven't used the book anymore, since we have both memorized it. The illustrations and text capture the essence of tenderness toward a child. Because I knew that someday my son would have a sibling, when I got to reciting the words "my best little grandchild" or "my best baby," I would say, "best little pumpkin" or "best little bird." That follows the lead of the first verse. And, having recited the story to my eldest many times while expecting, I found its rhythm comforting and focusing when I was in the labor room. Perhaps the baby recognized the verses and thought so too! END

My 2-1/2 year old granddaughter LOVES this book! The stories are all so warm and affectionate. She loves when you act out the stories, with the kissing and nuzzling and cuddling. The illustrations are super, the children and adults contemporary and natural. I love this book and I think you will too, it's an excellent read aloud, for bedtime or anytime.
Kathleen

This book is not only charming, it is also illustrated with pictures of loving families which may not be biologically related to each other-- and not a word is said about it! As an adoptive famiily, we have lots of adoption-related picture books, but it is nice to just have a fun comforting book which shows that loving families come in all colors and they don't need to "match"!

This has been a favorite gift book for me--I give this book to all kinds of families with babies and toddlers and everyone loves it!

I personally don't like the language in this book. It is written in casual spoken language. For example, "Little Guy's daddy has to run like anything just to catch that baby up." I prefer books that show examples of clear and creative sentences (with specific nouns and descriptive adjectives) since the baby already hears casual language on a regular basis.

While I did not find this book appealing at first glance, my 1 year old loved it- so much so that I renewed it at the library until they would not let me renew it again. I quickly ordered our own copy as this book was an every day read.

I was all set to love this book. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm was not shared by my 11 month old. I also bought this book for a friend, whose child seems similarly unimpressed. If I had to guess, I'd say the kids find the pictures a bit dull and the stories too repetitive.

This book was just awful. The text is very poorly written so that it's impossible to read fluidly. The pictures are annoying and the page layout is irritating. My daughter, who would happily allow me to read to her for hours, zoned out during this book. Ugh!

I love this book! I think the reviewers who mentioned awkward text and terrible drawings are just out of touch with the essence of the book. It's a wonderful multicultural love story between parent and child. It's so sweet, it makes me cry!

By the way, it's a Caldecott Award winner, so how bad can it be???

This book contains three babies with their caretaker, the father, grandmother, and mother. The children are seen having lots of fun with that person and screaming for more, more, more. Interesting that the second child, an African-American has a Caucasian grandmother. To an adult, they might be able to rationalize this, but to a child this may be very confusing why the parent does not look like the child. The majority of children reading this book is used to seeing children with relatives that look like them. If the author wants to make a statement of interracial relatives, why wasn't this done with child one and three?

I ventured upon this book while looking for childrens books to fill the space in a kids area at my workplace and boy did it bring back some memories! I cannot tell you how many times this book was read while my now 15 & 12 year olds (gasp) were toddlers. This was definitely one of the "go to" books for each of them (who happened to have very different tastes in regards to the many other books that lived on our shelves). They both loved it and would grab it constantly. My husband even tried to give it it's own "special" place under the couch beyond the reach of little hands...to no avail. I personally think it is a fun and really sweet book...I'm glad it was a part of their childhood (probably didn't appreciate it as much back then as I do now).

When my daughters were wee little toddlers, they loved this book because it contained one of their favorite words, "More". I now buy this for all my friends who are having babies. It is a wonderful addition to a child's library.