The Day the Babies Crawled Away

by Peggy Rathmann, Peggy Rathmann (Illustrator)

Overview

From the creator of Good Night, Gorilla comes another bedtime adventure!

What a lovely day at the fair. Children lining up for pony rides . . . moms and dads in a pie-eating contest . . . babies chasing butterflies . . . babies heading for the trees . . . I SAY! Where are those babies GOING?

Only a small boy sees them leaving and follows as the babies chase butterflies in trees, frogs in a bog, even bats in a cave, ignoring pleas to come back. But not to worry, our hero'saves the day, making sure that all the babies get home safely from their appealing adventures.

Caldecott Medal winner Peggy Rathmann has created a highly original story told in a lilting text and a bold new style with classic black silhouettes against stunning skies of many colors that change and glow as afternoon turns into evening.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399231964
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	10/13/2003
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 11.80(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Caldecott-medalist Peggy Rathmann was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and grew up in the suburbs with two brothers and two sisters. "In the summer we lolled in plastic wading pools guzzling Kool-Aid. In the winter we sculpted giant snow animals. It was a good life."
Ms. Rathmann graduated from Mounds View High School in New Brighton, Minnesota, then attended colleges everywhere, changing her major repeatedly. She eventually earned a B.A. in psychology from the University of Minnesota.
"I wanted to teach sign language to gorillas, but after taking a class in signing, I realized what I'd rather do was draw pictures of gorillas."
Ms. Rathmann studied commercial art at the American Academy in Chicago, fine art at the Atelier Lack in Minneapolis, and children's-book writing and illustration at the Otis Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles.
"I spent the first three weeks of my writing class at Otis Parsons filching characters from my classmates' stories. Finally, the teacher convinced me that even a beginning writer can create an original character if the character is driven by the writer's most secret weirdness. Eureka! A little girl with a passion for plagiarism! I didn't want anyone to know it was me, so I made the character look like my sister."
The resulting book, Ruby the Copycat, earned Ms. Rathmann the "Most Promising New Author" distinction in Publishers Weekly's 1991 annual Cuffie Awards. In 1992 she illustrated Bootsie Barker Bites for Barbara Bottner, her teacher at Otis Parsons.
A homework assignment produced an almost wordless story, Good Night, Gorilla, inspired by a childhood memory.
"When I was little, the highlight of the summer was running barefoot through the grass, in the dark, screaming. We played kick-the-can, and three-times-around-the-house, and sometimes we just stood staring into other people's picture windows, wondering what it would be like to go home to someone else's house."
That story, however, was only nineteen pages long, and everyone agreed that the ending was a dud. Two years and ten endings later, Good Night, Gorilla was published and recognized as an ALA Notable Children's Book for 1994.
The recipient of the 1996 Caldecott Medal, Officer Buckle and Gloria, is the story of a school safety officer upstaged by his canine partner.
"We have a videotape of my mother chatting in the dining room while, unnoticed by her or the cameraman, the dog is licking every poached egg on the buffet. The next scene shows the whole family at the breakfast table, complimenting my mother on the delicious poached eggs. The dog, of course, is pretending not to know what a poached egg is. The first time we watched that tape we were so shocked, we couldn't stop laughing. I suspect that videotape had a big influence on my choice of subject matter."
Ms. Rathmann lives and works in San Francisco, in an apartment she shares with her husband, John Wick, and a very funny bunch of ants.
copyright © 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.
Caldecott-medalist Peggy Rathmann was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and grew up in the suburbs with two brothers and two sisters.
"In the summer we lolled in plastic wading pools guzzling Kool-Aid. In the winter we sculpted giant snow animals. It was a good life."
Ms. Rathmann graduated from Mounds View High School in New Brighton, Minnesota, then attended colleges everywhere, changing her major repeatedly. She eventually earned a B.A. in psychology from the University of Minnesota.
"I wanted to teach sign language to gorillas, but after taking a class in signing, I realized what I'd rather do was draw pictures of gorillas."
Ms. Rathmann studied commercial art at the American Academy in Chicago, fine art at the Atelier Lack in Minneapolis, and children's-book writing and illustration at the Otis Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles.
"I spent the first three weeks of my writing class at Otis Parsons filching characters from my classmates' stories. Finally, the teacher convinced me that even a beginning writer can create an original character if the character is driven by the writer's most secret weirdness. Eureka! A little girl with a passion for plagiarism! I didn't want anyone to know it was me, so I made the character look like my sister."
The resulting book, Ruby the Copycat, earned Ms. Rathmann the "Most Promising New Author" distinction in Publishers Weekly's 1991 annual Cuffie Awards. In 1992 she illustrated Bootsie Barker Bites for Barbara Bottner, her teacher at Otis Parsons.
A homework assignment produced an almost wordless story, Good Night, Gorilla, inspired by a childhood memory.
"When I was little, the highlight of the summer was running barefoot through the grass, in the dark, screaming. We played kick-the-can, and three-times-around-the-house, and sometimes we just stood staring into other people's picture windows, wondering what it would be like to go home to someone else's house."
That story, however, was only nineteen pages long, and everyone agreed that the ending was a dud. Two years and ten endings later, Good Night, Gorilla was published and recognized as an ALA Notable Children's Book for 1994.
The recipient of the 1996 Caldecott Medal, Officer Buckle and Gloria, is the story of a school safety officer upstaged by his canine partner.
"We have a videotape of my mother chatting in the dining room while, unnoticed by her or the cameraman, the dog is licking every poached egg on the buffet. The next scene shows the whole family at the breakfast table, complimenting my mother on the delicious poached eggs. The dog, of course, is pretending not to know what a poached egg is. The first time we watched that tape we were so shocked, we couldn't stop laughing. I suspect that videotape had a big influence on my choice of subject matter."
Ms. Rathmann lives and works in northern California, on a ranch she shares with her husband, John Wick.
copyright © 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

Read an Excerpt

THE DAY THE BABIES CRAWLED AWAY

---

By PEGGY RATHMANN

G.P. PUTNAM'S SON

Copyright © 2003

Peggy Rathmann
All right reserved.


ISBN: 0-399-23196-X

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Chapter One

Remember the day
The babies crawled away?
We moms and dads were eating pies,
The babies saw some butterflies-And
what do you know?
Surprise! Surprise!
The babies crawled away!

Remember the way
You tried to save the day?
You hollered, "HEY!
You babies, STAY!"
But none of them did.
And some of them hid.
I SAY!
What a day
When the babies crawled away!

They crawled in the trees chasing bees.

They crawled in a bog chasing frogs.

They crawled in a cave-You
cried, "Babies, BEHAVE!"
But the babies loved bats,
So the babies just waved!

When the babies crawled out on a ledge,
You yelled, "Babies!
Don't crawl near the edge!"
But none of them heard-At
least, not the three
Who thought they were birds
And got stuck in a tree!

You yelled,
"I'll be there in a jiff!"
As you scrambled down the cliff-AND
YOU SAVED THE WHOLE CREW!
(Including the two
Who practically flew
Before landing on you!)
NICE PLAY!
What a day
When the babies crawled away!

But then-My,
oh my!
How those babies began to cry!
They were hungry, and tired,
And their little mouths were dry!

So you mashed them some blackberries
With droplets of dew,
And they took a short nap
In a big pile on you-I
SAY!
What a day
When the babies crawled away!

Remember the sling
You invented to bring them all back?
You borrowed their diapers
And tied them into a sack!
With lines made of vines,
It took quite a while,
But you and the babies
All rode up in style-Hey,
HEY!
What a day
When the babies crawled away!

Remember the way
They followed you home that day?
Through the cave and the trees,
On their brave, little knees,
Waving "bye-bye"
To the bats and the bees-OKAY!
What a day
When the babies crawled away!

Remember the way
I carried you home to bed?
You were thirsty, and tired,
And your little eyes were red.
You told me your story,
I brewed you some tea,
Then you fell
Fast asleep
In a small pile on me ...

Shhhhh!
I say,
What a day
When the babies crawled away.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from THE DAY THE BABIES CRAWLED AWAY
by PEGGY RATHMANN
Copyright © 2003 by Peggy Rathmann.
Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Editorial Reviews

"Caldecott Medalist Rathmann scores again with this rhymed tale of a child’s struggles to chaperone a wayward flock of errant babies, illustrated in vivacious, finely-cut silhouettes. . . Rathmann tucks in plenty of visual byplay and jokes, and brings the episode to a cozy close with the lad curled up in his own mother’s lap. At least as inventive and captivating as 10 Minutes Till Bedtime, this is bound to be a similar hit with children." —Kirkus Reviews

* "[A] rollicking rhyming tale, illustrated in needle-sharp, atmospheric silhouettes against twilight skies. . . Rathmann's poem never misses a beat, and her triumphant finale does not pass judgment on the parents; instead she praises the sleepy, baby-wrangling hero." —Publishers Weekly, starred review 

"A pint-sized do-gooder goes to great lengths to round up a bunch of renegade babies who have wandered off and returns them to their parents. Marvelous backlit silhouettes convey the drama and the humor in this sublime slice of inspired silliness." —School Library Journal

"Rathmann uses an old-fashioned style of illustration in a new and dramatic way, telling the story through black silhouettes set against a glowing neon sky. The style isolates the important parts of the tale, highlighting each gesture and detail Rathmann wants us to see and eliminating everything extraneous. There are many repeating motifs for children to seek out in each spread, and viewers will notice many details missed earlier when they go through the book a second time. The theme of this fresh, original book appeals, too, as the young would-be firefighter gets to be the hero." —The Horn Book

"The conceit is clever, the artwork is creative and lovely, and children with patience and imagination will find a bit more to see than they might find in a book with conventional art." —Booklist

From the Publisher

The Barnes & Noble Review
In a daringly different style from her previous bestselling books, Caldecott Medalist Peggy Rathmann delivers this rollicking, eye-catching tale about a very odd day when the town's babies crawl their way to mischief. Using dramatic, black silhouette illustrations set against a multi-colored, glowing sky, Rathmann tells how "We moms and dads were eating pies, The babies saw some butterflies -- And what do you know? Surprise! Surprise! The babies crawled away!" Followed by one responsible lad who makes sure they don't get into too much trouble, the town's tots scoot up trees to watch some bees, crawl through a bog, play with bats in a cave, and eventually crawl on to a dangerous ledge. Thankfully, the boy comes to their rescue, "But then -- My, oh my! How those babies began to cry! They were hungry, and tired, And their little mouths were dry!" So with some quick thinking, the boy guides his team of toddlers back home, reuniting his little charges with their adoring parents who cheer "You are our hero -- Have some pies! And we insist/ You've won FIRST PRIZE for saving the day/ When the babies crawled away!"

Rathmann fuels her storytelling with rolling rhymes that move the action along, while her artwork, with its bold, rather mysterious tone, conjures feelings of uneasy yet adventurous dusk-time escapades and fascinating small-town lore. This humorous, offbeat romp is a perfect companion to her previous tales Officer Buckle and Gloria and 10 Minutes till Bedtime. Shana Taylor

Matt Warner

Sweet, funny, original and stunningly beautiful picture book...What makes the book special is the illustrations of the babies' adventures, all done in diamond-sharp black silhouette against a sky that deepens from cloudy blue through saffron-green, orange and pink to luminous violet, as night falls, and babies and heroic rescuer alike snuggle up with their moms.—Elizabeth Ward

The Washington Post

The book itself is a pleasure, despite the hype. Rathmann does not let us down by resting on her artistic laurels and repeating herself. She is a real illustrator, who believes that pictures should illuminate, animate and follow the words that inspire them. For this reasonable reason, each of her books has a different look. This latest -- Rathmann calls it a ''ballad'' about a young child who saves five babies from running off on the day of a fair -- makes perfect material for a sentimental journey into the art of silhouetting. — Karla Kuskin

The New York Times

Caldecott Medalist Rathmann scores again with this rhymed tale of a child's struggles to chaperone a wayward flock of errant babies, illustrated in vivacious, finely-cut silhouettes. With the parents distracted by a pie-eating contest, only a small lad in a firefighter's helmet notices that five babies have crawled away from the picnic. Fruitlessly waving an admonitory finger, he follows as they clamber into a thick stand of trees, through a bog, into a cave, and over a cliff, collapsing at last for a nap in their exhausted pursuer's lap before letting him lead them back to joyful reunions. Posed against brilliantly lambent skies, each opaque, realistically rendered figure, from babies to butterflies and blades of grass, stands out distinctly; even the youngest viewers will have no trouble keeping track of who's up to what. Rathmann tucks in plenty of visual byplay and jokes, and brings the episode to a cozy close with the lad curled up in his own mother's lap. At least as inventive and captivating as 10 Minutes Till Bedtime, this is bound to be a similar hit with children. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews