Please, Baby, Please

The Barnes & Noble Review
Director and producer Spike Lee, with his wife Tonya Lewis Lee, team up with award-winning artist Kadir Nelson in this playful glimpse at one day in the life of a rambunctious toddler.

Through scenes that show an angelic, ringlet-haired baby being mischievous at different times of the day, an exhausted parental voice pleads with the tyke to stay out of trouble. When the clock hits 3:00 a.m. and the text calls, "Go back to bed, baby, please, baby, please," the frolicsome toddler is sitting on her sleeping mom's tummy, ready to play. At 7:45 a.m., "Not on your HEAD, baby baby baby, please!" shows her (of course) dumping a bowl full of cereal over herself, and later, at 12:30 p.m., the tot is shoveling sand into her mouth as the voice entreats, "Don't eat the sand, baby baby baby please." These shenanigans go on throughout the day, but at 10:00 p.m., a tired baby is done with trouble when she asks gently for a kiss goodnight, "Mama, Mama, Mama, please."

The Lees and Nelson have put together a right-on picture book that speaks to parents but will also have children laughing. The rhyming text changes and flows like a smooth melody, wonderfully complementing Nelson's oil illustrations, which give us snapshots of the antics from various angles. The girl herself will have readers cooing over her sweetness and groaning over the trouble she causes, and they'll feel assured that all is well at the end with Mom's tender kiss. A winsome read that's perfect for reading aloud and sharing. Matt Warner