Love You Head to Toe

Barron compares the ways that human and animal babies interact with others, play, snack, and cuddle. A gray kitten gently bats at a yellow butterfly just as an infant touches the butterfly on a mobile: "Baby, you're just like a kitten,/ Reaching up so high." As two bears hug, a woman offers a reassuring embrace as her child slips in the autumn leaves: "Baby, you're a bear cub,/ Toddling on two feet." A baby in a bathtub clutches a plastic toy while an otter baby holds a purple sea urchin on its chest. Barron's friendly collage illustrations have a shapely, multidimensional look that readers will want to reach out and touch, and they show appreciable similarities between babies of all sorts. Ages up to 3. (Mar.)

Toddler-PreS-Rhyming couplets create a rhythmic beat while comparing babies to a different animal species on each page. "Baby, you're a sea star, /Basking in the sun./Wake up and stretch from head to toe./Your day has just begun." Illustrations depict a diverse cast of babies, who are likened to ducklings, bear cubs, chipmunks, and other adorable animal youngsters. Barron identifies the similarities between these babies and their animal counterparts; a joey is depicted in his mother's pouch on the same page that a woman is carrying her baby in a snuggly. Cut-paper collage illustrations complement the text and create realistic visuals. As she did in Up!, Barron again fills the pages with the beautiful images. VERDICT Recommended for general purchase. A wonderful read-aloud for parents and children to share.—Kristen Todd-Wurm, Middle Country Public Library, NY