Overview

From wriggling chicks to jumpy kangaroos, this hilarious rhyming picture book showcases different kinds of babies, all of which are perfectly, adorably beastly! Making mischief, having fun each is precious, every one. In a knoll, a hole, or nest, Mamas love their babies best. In this delightful rhyming read-aloud, author Ellen Jackson and illustrator Brendan Wenzel introduce readers to all sorts of mischievous baby animals—and the grown-ups who love them no matter what. Featuring puppies that slobber, kittens who spill, and young gorillas who won't sit still, this book is sure to resonate with beastly babies of all ages—and their exasperated moms and dads, too!

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9781442408340

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Reviews

A simple rhyming text celebrates some shared characteristics of baby animals. Jackson catalogs a variety of animal offspring ( Babies can be smooth or hairy, / quail or whale or dromedary ) and their behaviors: Tiger babies pounce and fail / when they aim for mama's tail ; Baby buffalo get grumpy. / Baby kangaroos get jumpy. The rhymes have a brisk quality that will keep the pages turning. Wenzel's bright illustrations, rendered in almost everything imaginable, will grab the attention of small listeners. The wild profusion of young creatures, leaping, tumbling, and running as animal parents hover and peer from foliage nearby, is hilarious. All have round eyes and a kind of manic look, on the stern side for the parents (perfect in the cranky protectiveness of the mama tiger) but ready to go and full of spark for the babies....The unspoken reassurance--all babies are loved--is there, along with the important affirmation that growing up is both a little bit messy and a little bit chaotic. Toddlers may especially relish their status as creatures slightly older than babies while enjoying the affectionate tone of the text and art. Lots of fun.--Kirkus Reviews May 1, 2015

In this survey of animal offspring whose habitats range from the backyard to polar regions and the savannah, Wenzel ( Some Bugs ) wrangles species into wonderfully improbable compositions (a quail family dances in the spray from a baby's whale's spout, while a little dromedary mischievous spits on the whale's nose) and vivid single-animal vignettes (a baby tiger goes on a hunt with its mother, but can't even catch her tail let alone dinner). The visual magic of these pictures has two sources: the range of materials he employs and the animals' intense, wide-eyed gazes, which bring to mind Sumerian temple figures and give even the tiniest critter a powerful emotional presence. Hopscotching over the messes animal babies tend to make and the ways they misbehave, Jackson's ( Tooling Around ) brief rhymes...have an infectious rhythm, and they get an additional goose of energy from the book's quirky typography.--Publishers Weekly May 2015

In this survey of animal offspring whose habitats range from the backyard to polar regions and the savannah, Wenzel ( Some Bugs ) wrangles species into wonderfully improbable compositions (a quail family dances in the spray from a baby s whale s spout, while a little dromedary mischievous spits on the whale s nose) and vivid single-animal vignettes (a baby tiger goes on a hunt with its mother, but can t even catch her tail let alone dinner). The visual magic of these pictures has two sources: the range of materials he employs and the animals intense, wide-eyed gazes, which bring to mind Sumerian temple figures and give even the tiniest critter a powerful emotional presence. Hopscotching over the messes animal babies tend to make and the ways they misbehave, Jackson s ( Tooling Around ) brief rhymes...have an infectious rhythm, and they get an additional goose of energy from the book s quirky typography.--Publishers Weekly May 2015

Author Information

Ellen Jackson is the award-winning author more than fifty-five fiction and nonfiction books for children, including The Mysterious Universe (a Golden Kite honor book) and Earth Mother (which garnered three starred reviews.) She lives with her husband and dog in Santa Barbara, California. Brendan Wenzel’s artwork often explores the natural world and our relationship to it and he has teamed up with many groups working to preserve wild places and creatures around the world.  He has illustrated several acclaimed animal-themed picture books, including Some Bugs and Some Pets by Angela DiTerlizzi, Beastly Babies by Ellen Jackson, and his own They All Saw a Cat. He lives in New York.

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