A seriously shameful book review

Baby's got a nose, a neat little nose.
Sniffs at a rose nose.
Honks when it blows nose.
Wrinkles when it goes nose--
goes kerchoo.
Who loves baby's nose?
Me! I do.

I absolutely love All of Baby, Nose to Toes by Victoria Adler. The rhymes flow well, the story is cute, in my opinion it's a book worthy of any family's library.

But if I'm perfectly honest, I think what made me fall in love with the book are the illustrations. The book is illustrated by Hiroe Nakata, which as you know is a Japanese name. And family in the story is a mixed Asian and white family. The grandmother is white, the grandfather and father are Asian, the mother and children are mixed, and they even have a cute little blond dog. So obviously the family resembles ours in a way that most children's books do not.

The baby girl in the story looks a lot like Pearl, which is the real reason why we read it in the first place. A friend at church was given the book and told me that she thought of Pearl every time they read it... so she lent it to us. And, alas, it is time to return the book to its rightful owner...

... which leads me to the "shameful" part of the post title. ;-) Pearl's birthday is coming up in two months. If there are any relatives who are having trouble coming up with ideas for a birthday present, here's one for you. Oh, and if you click on the link above we'll get a few pennies from the amazon affiliate program (that's where the "seriously shameful" part comes in).

Ok, seriously now. This is a new book, published in 2009, but I really think it's a gem. If your library has it, check it out. If you find it at a book sale, snarf it up. And if you're feeling free with your money, buy it new. I do not think you will be disappointed.