Dawn Publications
If You Were My Baby: A Wildlife Lullaby
If You Were My Baby
Click the cover to look inside!
 Author: Fran Hodgkins
Illustrator: Laura J. Bryant

Retail Price: Paperback • $8.95 | Hardback • $16.95 | Board • $7.95
Web Special: Paperback • $8.06 | Board • $7.16
Overstock Sale Price: Hardback • $8.48

If you are looking for a terrific snuggle-book and ALSO want to introduce your young one to animals and their offspring, you’ve found it. Here is a love poem uniquely combined with non-fiction that explores how parents—both human and non-human—guide their young ones. It begins: If you were my baby squirrel,/ I would welcome you to the world/ In a secret nest I made just for you. The illustrations are gentle, magical, and yet in no way cartoonish—“simple but visually luxurious,” as the illustrator intended. The featured species are squirrel, otter, bear, opossum, deer, duck, bison, wolf, fox, beaver, skunk, mountain goat, bat, and (of course) homo sapien. A comforting, sweet-dream book for nature lovers.

This book grew out of an appreciation for nature by three generations of women, as Fran explains in A Mother’s Bond.

Educators: download free activities based on this book on our activities page.

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Book Details
Awards
  • National Parenting Publications Award
  • ASPCA Henry Bergh Children’s Book Finalist
  • Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of 2006
  • Mom’s Choice Award
Reviews
Gentle teaching, snuggling and playtime moments between wildlife mothers and their children are the highlight of Hodgkins’s offering. “If you were my baby beaver, I would show you how to build well, using branches, mud, and hard work.” A mother bat would snuggle her baby upside down, while a duck mom would paddle ahead of her ducklings, leading them. The final spread celebrates the fact that, “YOU are my baby,” and we can delight in nature’s wonders together. While meant to be a lullaby, not all of the animals’ interactions are sleep-inducing, nor is there a tune. Regardless, if the goal is to introduce a love of nature, this will do it. The illustrations are beautifully detailed and yet softly muted at the same time. The animals are center-stage, perfect for the youngest listeners. This is similar to Kate McMullan’s If You Were My Bunny (2003). Where this one is without the accompanying lullabies of the other, it makes up for it with the art.

— Kirkus Reviews (August 15, 2005)

If You Were My Baby: A Wildlife Lullaby by Fran Hodgkins gives little ones a charming look at the wonders of the wild and the joys of family. In this breezy read-along, parents of every species imaginable – from skunks and beavers to bears and bats – share affectionate moments with their young, imparting important lessons and words of encouragement. The cute critters, depicted by Laura Bryant in their natural environments with wonderful detail, make this a terrific introduction to nature. An adorable addition to your child’s collection.

— Bookpage (September 2005)

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