TXTNG MAMA TXTNG BABY

Baby and Mama share their love in a series of text messages in this novelty title.

Designed to mimic a cellphone—rectangular and vertically oriented—this offering is populated by “mama” and “baby” smiley faces. They are similar-sized yellow circles with big round eyes; Mama has a short brown bob, while Baby has a single brown curlicue in the center of her head. Orange and green dialogue bubbles contain the texting abbreviations that make up the pair’s messages to one another. Mama says, for instance, “O U QT,” for “Oh, you cutie.” And Baby answers, “10 Q Mama,” for “Thank you, Mama.” Mama plays peekaboo with Baby—disembodied yellow hands covering her giant eyes—recites the beginning of the alphabet and “TCKL”s Baby (which makes her LOL). Finally Mama instructs: “I shhhhh…. / U zzzzzzz….”—and Baby drops off to sleep. While adults may enjoy the cleverness of this cutesy conversation conducted entirely through texts, little ones won’t be impressed. The illustrations—icons and dialogue bubbles on a pale blue background—won’t generate interest either, as all of the pages look alike.

Good for a quick chuckle for tech-savvy grown-ups, but it sure doesn’t offer much appeal for tots, digital natives or not.