The Babies are Landing - Hardcover

Joan L. Margalith lives in London. This is her first book for children.

Babies don't need the stork to facilitate their arrivalAthey simply fall gently to earth in baskets, like raindropsAaccording to this compact gift book (the frontispiece provides a space to write a baby's name and arrival date). "Every baby lands/ in somebody's arms/ In the roar of a city/ or the hush of a farm." With a mixture of full-bleed, double-page spreads and neatly framed square compositions, Bronson (Crookjaw) depicts infants as sleeping, totemic-looking figures, with perfectly round, apple-cheeked faces peeking out from sausagelike swaddling. Her swooping, curvilinear stylization of adults captures the sublime ecstasy of new parenthood in many cultures and settings: a Native American mother, whose shape echoes that of her teepee, lovingly cradles her child as her braids curl out from her head like two beaming smiles; a father standing outside what appears to be an Italian pastry shop hugs his baby along with four baguettes and a trio of cupcakes. Such parent-child images are eye-catching and comforting. But some children may be troubled by a disconnect between the text and pictures: in the opening pages, some babies do not land in the arms of an adultAin fact, an island baby and a desert baby look rather lonely and marooned. All ages. (May)
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