My Baby Loves Christmas: A Christmas Holiday Book for Kids

by Jabari Asim, Tara Nicole Whitaker (Illustrator)

Overview

In the My Baby Loves Christmas board book, celebrate all the lovely things that baby discovers about Christmas.

Baby loves candy canes wrapped in bows.

Baby loves jingle bells.

Baby loves snow. . . .

Celebrate all the lovely things that Baby discovers about Christmas. This board book, the perfect gift for a new baby, features rhythmic poetry from Jabari Asim and adorable art from Tara Nicole Whitaker.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062884626
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/17/2019
Pages:	20
Product dimensions:	7.25(w) x 7.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	9 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Jabari Asim is the author of the critically acclaimed The N Word. He is editor-in-chief of The Crisis—the magazine of the NAACP—and former editor at and frequent contributor to the Washington Post, and his writing has appeared on Salon and in Essence, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. He divides his time between Maryland and Illinois with his wife and five children.

Tara Nicole Whitaker’s education in art began early, from classes at Pratt in her youth to more formal training at RISD and California Institute of the Arts. She has designed for Dreamworks, Nickelodeon, Fox Animation, PBS, CBS, Cartoon Network, and Disney. 

Editorial Reviews

10/07/2019

In this stylish board book, a baby with big eyes, brown skin, and little pearl earrings delights in the classic hallmarks of Christmas, including “our tall, sparkling tree/ with gifts underneath.” With easy rhymes and straightforward, friendly illustrations, Asim and Whitaker present spreads full of traditional holiday cheer. Accompanied by a playful tawny cat, the child enjoys carols with her parents, hangs a stocking with her mother, and makes gingerbread cookies with her father. The anaphora “Baby loves” repeats throughout as the book builds toward a merry family present-opening scene and the conclusion: “Baby loves holly decking the halls./ Baby loves Christmas most of all!” Ages up to 4. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

2019-11-24
Holiday cheer with Baby.

"Baby loves candy canes wrapped in a bow. / Baby loves jingle bells. Baby loves snow." Asim's rhyming verse enumerates everything that Baby loves about Christmas: the wreath and its ribbons, the tree with gifts beneath it, a family Christmas carol singalong, making gingerbread "men," hanging stockings, and, of course, Santa. Whitaker contributes ever-so-slightly retro-tinged illustrations that recall stylings seen in mid-20th-century Little Golden Books. Where this offering departs from those hoary classics is in its joyous depiction of a black, onesie-clad toddler protagonist celebrating the rituals of the holiday within a black nuclear family. Baby and Mommy share ebullient black curls (Mommy's are loose while Baby's are confined with a ribbon); Daddy sports a close-cropped beard and a fade. Mommy's skin is a tad darker than Daddy's and Baby's. Little listeners will love spotting the protagonist's happy tabby kitten in each spread, and black families in particular will appreciate such thoughtful details as a black Nutcracker doll and black Santa among all the poinsettias and garland that bestrew the house. With its gold-foil cover and celebration of commonly depicted Christmas traditions, it blends right in with other offerings produced for the season—and as it does, it stands proudly out.

A sweet and easy book to share with little ones at Christmastime. (Board book. 1-3)

Kirkus Reviews