The book I chose is called Everywhere Babies. It was written by Susan Meyers and illustrated by Marla Frazee in 2001. They are both mothers and have a lot of experience in the subject of babies.
The book is a description about babies and what they do from age to their first birthday.
I originally purchased this book because it shows all races, gender, and age blended together in a happy community. The narrative in this book shows that the characters, babies, are born, fed, cuddled, played with, kissed, dressed, rocked, carried, and have the same basic physical abilities, regardless of race. It does this well. It represents families in their everyday ways. Everyone is dressed similarly to the style of today. They are wearing casual attire.
It depicts people of all races well. Almost everyone has distinctive features.
I did find some stereotyping. The grandmothers and old people were all very old and mostly overweight.
I also noticed that the two African American mothers had twins. I found this interesting because statistically, African American have more twins fraternally. (Berk, 55)
The lifestyles and everyday activities were non stereotyped. It has a picture of a father feeding a baby, a grandfather feeding a baby, as well as a mother. It even has a picture of a baby being breastfed.
I noticed that the same consistent standard of success in class of across cultures . They depict this by giving all the characters a general amount of materialistic things.
I did notice that the parents, when shown together, are from the same race. They are not interracial. With the exception of the same sex couples.
This book has a great page with a chaotic pool scene. I love this page the most. I work with babies and this is a normal scenario when having a pool day. Everyone is in their own little world. Some babies are having a great time, while others are not. A Caucasion baby wants out of the pool so she is reaching for help. An African American hand is offering assistance. Then, on the other side of the pool, an African American baby is falling out of or over in the pool and a Caucasion adult is resolving her conflict by helping her up. It again shows a blend of races coming together.
Works Cited.
Berk, Laura E. Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston. Allyn & Bacon. Print.
