Walk On! A Guide for Babies of All Ages

Frazee, Marla. 2006. WALK ON! A GUIDE FOR BABIES OF ALL AGES. San Diego: Harcourt. ISBN 0152055738 [Suggested Grade Levels P-2]

REVIEW
This charmingly illustrated guide to taking first steps can easily be applied to processes throughout the human lifespan, and therefore qualifies for inclusion in the “picture book for older readers” genre, too. Publishers Weekly’s starred review concludes, “…Much of the humor will fly right by the nine- to 18-month old crowd, but Frazee has a bigger audience in mind: eager, anxious parents—both expectant and newly anointed—and impatient older siblings. She will have no trouble winning them over.”

Frazee’s androgynous baby, plumply dimpled and executed in pencil and gouache, tries and fails and tries again. Every expression from frustration to triumph is clearly recognizable in his/her retro form. The baby’s-eye-perspective, where every other object looks enormous by comparison, and the distance across a living room a vast obstacle course to be navigated, accurately and hilariously extends the simple text.

CONNECTIONS
Challenge children to write and illustrate their own how-to books.
Have you been successful at something that seemed really hard? How did you tackle it? Did it take patience, perseverance, or did it seem easy to you? Children can tell their stories to a partner, and then to a whole group.

RELATED BOOKS
Other books written or illustrated by Marla Frazee:
Frazee, Marla. ROLLER COASTER. ISBN 0152057447
Meyers, Susan. EVERYWHERE BABIES. ISBN 0152053158

Other books about babies:
Schwartz, Amy. A TEENY TINY BABY. ISBN 1596431938
Willems, Mo. KNUFFLE BUNNY. ISBN 0786818700


By Julie Brinker