Baby Finds; Baby Goes; Baby Noises; Baby Plays

This series of four small format board books is aimed at the very young. Apart from Baby Finds (baby finds nose, mouth, ears etc.) they involve concepts that are more challenging than the usual introduction of commonplace nouns. In Baby Goes for instance, baby goes fast, slow, high etc. and in Baby Plays, baby plays catch the cat; dance around; clap one, two etc. Baby Noises introduces crash, bang, slurp, and so on.
Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of these books is the warm, realistic illustrations. The babies featured are a sort of index of the various ethnic groups in Britain today, and almost touching in the illustrator’s determination to exclude no one group. Sadly these are not the sort of books one is likely to see on sale by mainstream booksellers which probably has some bearing on the sense of alienation some minority groups experience in Britain today – provided, that is, that we accept that books have a role to play in these matters. This is probably not a bad time for reflection on these issues. EL