Bathtub Blues

From School Library JournalPreS-Ten babies play outside in the sand, the dirt, and puddles. After each activity they're told they need a scrub, but they all shout, "No!" Finally, after the stinky diapers, there's no choice, and the howling youngsters are placed into the same sudsy tub. "Now what do those rockers do They sing âThe Baby Bathtub Blues,'" until they're all whooping it up with toys and tambourines. Soon enough, bath time's over. "No!" they all shout as they head back outside ready to do it all again. The text focuses on the antics of four of the babies at a time interspersed with an up-tempo refrain. The difficulty is that these textual segments have changing rhyming patterns, making the book awkward to read. The illustrations capture the energy and sweetness of the scantily haired, round-faced babies. The minimalist line drawings of their animated faces and pudgy bodies are highly adept at bringing each child to life. Unfortunately, the coloration is uneven. Children will respond to this romp, but adults might just as easily walk away with a headache. Even fans of Rock-a-Baby Band (Little, Brown, 2003) might find that the concept is stretched too far here.- Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MICopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Product DescriptionAfter making a real mess of themselves, it is time for the rockin' babies to get cleaned up and so they head for a soapy bath where they make soapsud beards, play with the rubber duck, and sing their bathtub tunes while getting squeaky clean!From BooklistPreS. A bevy of babies need a bath. On the cover, a smiling group of toddlers of all races frolic in bubbles; inside the book, they're a little less demure. Babies of all shades crowd the pages, getting dirty, banging pails, hugging wet dogs. Naturally, a bath is in order, and the babies line up: "Oh, stinky, stinky, stinky babies need a scrub. / All you stinky babies jump into the tub!" A bit of chaos ensues as the babies crowd the tub, but soon it's time to come out--much to the dismay of several of the little ones. Then, clean and dressed, the toddlers head outside to do it all over again. Every bit of this is delightful, the silly childlike text and the endearing kiddies, completely natural (and sometimes au naturel). One problem: the cover art looks soft and polished, but many of the inside pages seem almost garish in their color reproduction. Even that doesn't detract much from the sheer sweetness of the pictures. A CD will accompany the finished book, so everyone can sing along. Ilene CooperCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedAbout the AuthorKate McMullan lives in New York City and Sag Harbor with her husband, the noted illustrator James McMullan. Their latest picture book is I'm Mighty!, a monologue by a tugboat.Janie Bynum is the author and illustrator of Altoona Baboona and Otis and is the illustrator of Porcupining: A Prickly Love Story by Lisa Wheeler.Peggo and Paul with the Peggosus Band wrote and perform the original music on the CD enclosed in the book. They have won several Parent's Choice Awards.
Author: McMullan, Kate

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers

Binding: Hardcover

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0316609013

ISBN-13: 9780316609012