Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born

by Jamie Lee Curtis, Laura Cornell (Illustrator)

Overview

Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born is a special celebration of the love and joy an adopted child creates for a family.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell, the New York Times bestselling team behind Today I Feel Silly and I’m Gonna Like Me, bring us a tender and funny picture book for every parent and child.

In asking her parents to tell her again about the night of her birth, a young girl relives a cherished tale she knows by heart. Focusing on the significance of family and love, this a unique and beautiful story about adoption and the importance of a loving family.

A beautiful adoption story, Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born also speaks to the universal childhood desire to know more about the excitement, awe, love, and sleeplessness that a new baby brings to a family.

Tell me again about the night I was born.

Tell me again how you would adopt me and be my parents.

Tell me again about the first time you held me in your arms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060245283
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	07/19/1996
Series:	Joanna Cotler Bks.
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	178,893
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 8.75(h) x 0.39(d)
Lexile:	AD1080L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Jamie Lee Curtis has had many firsts: her first (and only) marriage to Christopher Guest, her first time holding her children, Annie and Tom, her first time pretending to be a customer in an episode of Quincy, and her first time she wrote words that became her first book. She lives in Los Angeles, the first city she ever lived in, and is always first in line, first to arrive, first to leave, and first to sleep.

Laura Cornell lives in New York City with her daughter, Lily (first and only), but they spend much time in California, Laura's first state in her first home. She was asked to illustrate Jamie's first book, and that became ten. Lucky is the first word that comes to mind.

Editorial Reviews

A young girl asks her parents to repeat the cherished tale she knows so well about her birth and adoption. Told from the child's point of view, the story and pictures are full of fun details. On the plane down to get her, "there was no movie, only peanuts." When carrying her home, her parents "glared at anyone who sneezed." Under the silliness in both the text and illustrations, there lies a strong message of the parents' love for this new baby girl.

Barnes & Noble Staff

PreS-Gr 2While Curtis's fame as an actor may get this adoption story special attention, it deserves recognition in its own right. If the title suggests a blow-by-blow description of the birth process, readers are quickly set straight; the news arrives by telephone. The narrator's adoptive parents rush to the hospital via plane, and any questions about the identity of the birth mother are brushed aside; she is simply "too young" to take care of her child. The new parents see their daughter in the nursery, howling wide-mouthed and oblivious to their pleased and loving gazes. Both participate equally in this tale; the first night home with the baby, the father tells her about baseball, holding her and a bat cradled in his arms. The humor implicit in the text is made explicit in the illustrations: watery, cartoonstyle watercolors with fine-pen accents to show outlines and facial features. This book exudes action and light; nothing here will lull children to sleep, except the warmth of feeling and comfort. It does not delve into the complexity of adoptive dynamics, but simply affirms family love, the pleasure parents feel about new babies, and how pleased children are to hear the story of their birth.Ruth K. MacDonald, Bay Path College, Longmeadow, MA

School Library Journal

Everyone—including adoptive parents and children longing for validation of their unique experiences—will embrace this pitch- perfect celebration of true family values.

"Tell me again" is the endearing catchphrase a young girl employs to get her parents to recount the creation of their family: the late-night phone call ("Tell me again how you screamed"), a plane ride ("and how there was no movie, only peanuts"), the trip to the hospital ("you both got very quiet and felt very small"), love at first sight in the nursery ("you couldn't believe something so small could make you smile so big"). "Tell me again about the first time you held me in your arms and called me your baby sweet. Tell me again how you cried happy tears." It's all here, including a childlike family tree and a funny spread showing a "New Baby (actual size)." In those scenes and others, Cornell's quirky watercolors enhance the book's tone and expand on its humor, effectively alternating between highly comic scenes and quieter, more loving ones.

Kirkus Reviews