The Baby Tree

by Sophie Blackall, Sophie Blackall (Illustrator)

Overview

Cleverly revealing the basics of reproduction in an age-appropriate way, award-winning Sophie Blackall has created a beautiful picture book full of playful details to amuse and engage readers.
 
Sooner or later, every child will ask, Where do babies come from? Answering this question has never been this easy or entertaining! Join a curious little boy who asks everyone from his babysitter to the mailman, getting all sorts of funny answers along the way, before his parents gently set him straight.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780698158108
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	05/01/2014
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	AD540L (what's this?)
File size:	36 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Sophie Blackall (www.sophieblackall.com) is the illustrator of several award-winning picture books, including Meet Wild Boars by Meg Rosoff, Pecan Pie Baby by Jacqueline Woodson, Big Red Lollipop (by Rukhsana Khan), and the Ivy and Bean books by Annie Barrows. Her many honors include a BCCB Blue Ribbon, Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award, Society of Illustrators Founders Award, Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book, Book Sense 76 Pick, and New York Times Top Ten Picture Book. Her artwork has also appeared in murals as part of the New York City MTA’s “Arts for Transit” program. Previously she has had jobs in a shoe shop and a robot factory. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

Blackall brings great charm to everything she draws, and here watercolors of babies nestled on boughs, in birds' eggs and finally, in utero, sweetly and comically separate fact and fiction.

The New York Times Book Review - Sarah Harrison Smith

* “Blackall once again excels at portraying a thoughtful child with a rich inner life, as her hero/narrator finds his world upended when his parents announce the arrival of a new baby. . . . Gently evasive half-answers enable Blackall to unleash her special brand of elegant, pokerfaced surrealism. . . . Blackall also admires her hero’s inquisitiveness, and the way he squares his parents’ eventual, more scientific explanation with what he’s heard throughout the day makes for a lovely tribute to the blossoming mind. An afterword offers helpful narratives for grownups facing a similar line of inquiry.” — Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

* “A delightfully age-appropriate way to give young children the facts about conception and birth. . . . Illustrations are beautifully crafted. . . . Each page is adorned with soft colors and crisp, clear pictures that enhance the story.” — School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

* “Blackall’s text is straightforward, calm, and reassuring without being clinical. . . . Watercolor illustrations make the most of the narrator’s imaginative flights of fancy, and the cherubic, rosy-cheeked babies of different ethnicities are cute as a button. . . . An appended page provides suggestions for adults about addressing the ‘where do babies come from?’ question.” — The Horn Book, STARRED REVIEW

“Engaging illustrations. . . . Each response to the question stimulates the boy’s imagination as revealed in the pictures. . . . ‘Answering the Question “Where Do Babies Come From?”’ concludes the book and contains age-appropriate responses. An appealing book for children preparing to welcome a new baby or who are simply curious.” — Booklist

“Honest and accurate language combines with a rueful acknowledgment of the varied takes on the topic to make this a sound introduction to the “Where do babies come from?” question. The text remains kid-focused; the tone is steadily inquisitive, never pedantic, and the boy is particularly endearing in his curiosity. Blackall’s line and watercolor illustrations are winsome without being saccharine, and there’s considerable humor in their depiction of the various evasive explana- tions. . . . Effectively finds the sweet spot between practical and pleasant in this lovely new addition to the sex education shelf.” — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

Honest and accurate language combines with a rueful acknowledgment of the varied takes on the topic to make this a sound introduction to the “Where do babies come from?” question. The text remains kid-focused; the tone is steadily inquisitive, never pedantic, and the boy is particularly endearing in his curiosity. Blackall’s line and watercolor illustrations are winsome without being saccharine, and there’s considerable humor in their depiction of the various evasive explana- tions. . . . Effectively finds the sweet spot between practical and pleasant in this lovely new addition to the sex education shelf.

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Engaging illustrations. . . . Each response to the question stimulates the boy’s imagination as revealed in the pictures. . . . ‘Answering the Question “Where Do Babies Come From?”’ concludes the book and contains age-appropriate responses. An appealing book for children preparing to welcome a new baby or who are simply curious.

Booklist

* “Blackall’s text is straightforward, calm, and reassuring without being clinical. . . . Watercolor illustrations make the most of the narrator’s imaginative flights of fancy, and the cherubic, rosy-cheeked babies of different ethnicities are cute as a button. . . . An appended page provides suggestions for adults about addressing the ‘where do babies come from?’ question.

The Horn Book

2014-03-17
When a small boy learns a baby's coming to his family, he wonders where it's coming from. In words and pictures, the unnamed narrator's imagination builds a variety of possibilities from the pat responses to his query he gets from a teenage friend, a teacher, the mailman and his grandfather. Finally, he asks his parents. Their simple explanation about a seed, an egg and birth in a hospital helps him see that all the other answers (except for Grandpa's story about the stork) were partially right. As she did in Are You Awake? (2011), Blackall captures the natures of children's curiosity and family conversations. Her ink-and-watercolor illustrations include plenty of white space. They show the rosy-cheeked boy engaged in typical kid activities at home, at school and while visiting his grandfather. His question is not burning, but time passes and he gets more and more confused. (And his mother gets visibly pregnant.) The pacing is leisurely and the tone gently humorous, and the answer includes no anatomical details. Modern in its imagery (both parents have smartphones plugged in by the bed), this is just right for initiating a conversation with a 4- to 6-year-old child. A final page for parents covers less typical family situations: twins, adoption and single-sex couples. A gentle, appropriate answer to a perennial question. (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews