WELCOME

Make way for a new baby-shower hit.

Bold, digital graphics and sans-serif type define the design aesthetic of this sturdy book, with its heavy cover boards (each with a mirror on the inside) and cardstock pages. Its construction and design make it accessible to the babies it seeks to welcome to the world and to shared reading, while its textual content will affirm the feelings and aspirations of new parents besotted with their babies and awed by the responsibility of welcoming them and guiding them through life. Willems’ characteristic humor comes through in such instructions as “PLEASE ENJOY YOUR STAY,” which details a plethora of enjoyable activities: “SLEEPING and WAKING, / EATING and BURPING, / POOPING and MORE POOPING.” And compassionate honesty shines through on the page reading “WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU / Not everything is as it should be. / There is unkindness and fighting and wastefulness and soggy toast.” Throughout, the refrain “while we read this book together” affirms the value of shared reading and the bonding it affords between child and adult. Is the text aimed more at adults than children in this reading transaction? Yes, but the book as a whole is about the relationship between child and parent, exemplified by the synergy of child-friendly design and adult-affirming text.

Welcome yourself, little book.