Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers

Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers, illustrated by Marla Frazee

Rating: 4 stars

Not everyone is a baby person.  I mean, we were blessed with The Cutest Babies On Earth the moment they were born, but...not all babies had Lorelei's huge blue eyes, and no other baby had the cutest little round toes.  There's no way that there was another baby with dimples like Ben or had his same lop-sided grin from such a tiny age.  Wait?  What was that?  Every mother thinks that their baby is the cutest?!  WHAT?!  No way.

Well, Marla Frazee's amazing art is The Reason to check out this book.  She must have spent a year on it!  I actually tried to find out how long it took her because I was curious...there must be two hundred babies in this book, each with a different expression on its little face.  This is truly a book for the new millenium, and it's a wonderfully liberal take on families, too, which I love and deeply appreciate.  Look closely and you'll see, right next to the picture of cookie-cutter family in a house with a cute dog and white picket fence, a baby being pushed by two dads or a baby being rocked by the sleepy foot of one of two mothers collapsed on a bed.  I love that through her illustrations Marla Frazee is gently suggesting we expand our mind just a little bit.  In every picture there the baby is being wrapped in a gentle blanket of love, and MAN isn't that the most important thing of all?

In addition to this liberal definitely of family thing, there are just babies being carried in every single way imaginable, from Bjorn to sling to shoulders to chest to stroller.  Babies are being held by every single person, from grandparent to friend to mother to sister to dog (ok, I'm making that one up...just seeing if you're paying attention).  Babies are being fed all sorts of food, from peaches to breastmilk to formula to bananas.  There is so much going on here!

Susan Meyers definitely plays a supporting role in this book.  When I read this to Lorelei and Ben, I don't think they listened or cared what I was saying!  They were focused on all the pictures.  Ben still (STILL!) isn't talking much at all, but he made it quite clear that he wanted me to point to each picture and describe what was going on.  I would name the babies on the first page, where a dozen babies are in a funny line-up, or maybe baby mug shots?  Each is so wonderfully unique!

Thank you, Marla Frazee.  We're on your trail, and can't wait for your next batch of art to show up in a library book near us!


P.S.  We just checked this book out as a board book--yippee!  Now Ben can boy handle it all he wants.