Such a Silly Baby! by Steffanie Lorig, Richard Lorig, Richard Lorig, Amanda Shepherd (Illustrator), Amanda Shepherd (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

Bursting with bright illustrations and a rollicking text, this boisterous book invites readers to hoot, neigh, snort, and giggle along with a very silly baby.

The Washington Post - Mary Quattlebaum

Some read-alouds invite a cozy cuddle, others call for giggles and romps. Such a Silly Baby! falls in the second camp. In rollicking rhyme, husband-and-wife team Steffanie and Richard Lorig chronicle the adventures of an exuberant tot and his wacky mom…Illustrator Amanda Shepherd ratchets up the fun with vivid colors

Publishers Weekly

As preschoolers will undoubtedly note with glee, the title of this book should be "Such a Silly Mommy!" After all, it's Mommy who can't manage to go on an outing without bringing home an animal instead of her offspring. Whatever the destination, the refrain is always the same: "But there was a hitch.../ my baby got switched," and clueless Mommy ends up with, say, a chimpanzee, while Baby takes up residence in the monkey house. Baby is always retrieved with the turn of a page, but the spreads give readers plenty of opportunity to savor his briefly unsupervised cavorting in a comic, exotic setting. Exuberant, hand-lettered text practically demands audience participation on the animal noises ("oo... oo... ee... ee..." for the chimps). Paired with this husband-and-wife team, Shepherd (Fiona Loves the Night) illustrates in the Nadine Bernard Westcott vein; she revels in buoyantly hued silliness and goofy visual asides. A firm hand, however, guides these compositions, most evidently in Shepherd's use of thick, textured fields of color, and readers won't get overwhelmed. Ages up to 4. (May)

Children's Literature

In this silly tale, a mother takes her baby to visit various places where animals are the center of attention. At the zoo, she somehow leaves her baby and arrives home with a chimpanzee. On a trip to the circus, the exchange involves a bear. While at a farm, the baby is left behind and a pig goes home instead. The Wild West show mix-up sends a buffalo home in place of the baby. Of course, after each mistake, the animals are returned and baby is restored. The rhyming text is cumulative, repeating the sounds made by each of the animals as the story proceeds. Usually, this type of story appeals greatly to young children because they can participate by chiming in and making the animal noises. The illustrations are drawn to resemble children's artwork and combine both pastel and bold colors. They also bring out the slapstick humor of the story. Still, in the end, this is really just an ordinary book and is not one that should be on the first purchase list. Reviewer: Sylvia Firth

School Library Journal

PreS- The hapless mother in this bouncy rhyming tale just can't keep track of her silly baby: he gets switched with the chimpanzee at the zoo, with the dancing bear at the circus, with a lazy sow at the farm, and with a buffalo at the Wild West show. Then, when she finally gets the child home for a nap, all the animals follow. The flexible tot makes himself right at home in every new environment, swinging from the ropes with the monkeys, walking the tightrope, rolling in the mud, and twirling a lasso. Each time he greets Mom again, he adds a new phrase learned from his animal friends, for a cumulative festival of animal sounds that storytime listeners will love. Shepherd's bright, wildly cartoonlike oil paintings perfectly reflect the wackiness of the text. Pair this with Audrey Wood's Silly Sally (Harcourt, 1992) for a simply silly storytime.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD

Kirkus Reviews

A perplexed mom has trouble returning home from outings with her own baby in this boisterous debut from Team Lorig. Rollicking rhymes take readers around town as the pair visit the zoo, a circus, a farm and a Wild West show. Each time, though, Mom brings home an animal in place of her baby. "The circus came, I took him there. / We laughed at clowns with funny hair. / But there was a hitch . . . / my baby got switched, / and I went home with a dancing bear!" She returns the next day to swap them back, although by then her baby has picked up the mannerisms of the animal he has been impersonating. Repetitive elements make this a great one for shared reading. Shepherd's exuberant oil illustrations match the preposterousness of the text perfectly, cleverly building in visual cues to help readers guess what animal might be going home with Mom. A lively flight into imagination-mothers may never look at outings the same way again. (Picture book. 2-5)

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