Some of her other books went over better than this one but it's still a fun addition. ( )

In this book, Patricelli illustrates two basic emotions that happen to be opposites - happiness and sadness. Each spread contains the words "baby happy" and "baby sad" and are illustrated by complementary pictures. For instance, one spread illustrates "baby happy" with the baby holding a red balloon and then portrays "baby sad" with the balloon flying away. The text is thus very simple and rather basic, although a parent or caregiver could expand upon it by giving a more detailed explanation of why the baby is happy or sad in each picture (i.e., 'Look the baby is happy because he's holding a balloon. Oh no! He let go of the string and the balloon flew away. Now the baby is sad.'). Using exaggerated facial expressions for each emotional state is a good idea to reinforce the meaning. This book could be helpful when teaching young children about emotions and being able to articulate their feelings, especially the youngest children who are still working on building a simple vocabulary to express themselves, rather than simply crying or resorting to tantrums. The toddlers in my class are on the older end and already have those language skills, but they still enjoyed this book, despite it being rather basic. ( )

True, this book is all about the pictures. If there were no pictures, there would be no point to the book. And the pictures are an absolute riot. It's kind of like watching Spongebob, where it's entertaining for the kids, but the grown ups get something extra out of the humor that the kids don't totally get. I love this author and her books for the wee ones :) ( )

Patricelli, L. (2008). Baby HAPPY Baby SAD. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

9780763632458

Baby HAPPY Baby SAD is a good first board book that acknowledges babies’ emotions. This book lends itself to having an adult go through the book with the baby and point out the details of the illustrations to help the baby realize the very relatable situations the characters are going through.

My personal favorite of the illustrations is….

...not that I enjoyed stripping off all my clothes as a small child and running around the house naked. And my parents certainly do not have pictures of me doing said activity. Since that would be a cruel event to keep a record of. Right, Mom and Dad? Right.

While a parent or sitter shouldn’t expect the young reader to actually READ this concept book, with the repetition of “Baby happy” and “Baby sad,” he or she could encourage the child to shout out the phrases as they go through the book.

It is worth noting, that all of the characters showed appear to be white, which is not ideal for a parent who wants to start showing a more multicultural representation of the world early on.


Activities to Do with the Book:

This board book is a great book for the youngest of readers to practice turning pages, gnawing on the corners and identifying objects and creatures like balloons, ice cream, dogs, cats and mommy and daddy.

This book shows issues of cause and effect, how the physical world can influence a child’s emotions, helps develop early visual literacy and helps wee-babes gain some important vocabulary: Happy, Sad and Baby.


Favorite Quotes:

“Baby HAPPY”
“Baby SAD”

…and that’s pretty much it.