Module 1: You Were Loved Before You Were Born

Summary. A family prepares for the birth of a new baby. The grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and neighbors help by painting the room, creating toys, and making a "Welcome" banner. The message is that many people love the new baby.

Citation. Bunting, Eve. You Were Loved Before You Were Born. Ill. Karen Barbour. New York: Blue Sky Press, 2008. Print.

My Impressions. The tone of the book is very warm and inviting, but perhaps a little over-the-top in a sentimental way. Parents are very sentimental about their children, and this book might appeal more to the parents than the baby. By the time children are old enough to hear about their arrival as babies, they're usually more interested in action than stories of babies. The drawing style didn't appeal to me, not just because they aren't realistic but because no one smiles! The book is colorful, however, which is good.

Library Uses. This book could be used in a baby storytime, with a theme of new babies.

Reviews. (Booklist) In this second collaboration between Bunting and Barbour, a mother, speaking in soothing tones, narrates an idyllic portrait of how a child is anticipated and then welcomed into the world: The minute Daddy and I found out we were going to have you, we loved you. Grandmother plants a rosebush in the garden that will grow as you grow, and grandfather brings over the rocking chair that rocked an earlier generation. An aunt paints the moon and stars on the walls of the baby's room. Even the family pets cooperate. Barbour's gorgeous woodcuts are alternately nostalgic and psychedelic, perfectly fitting the sweet, boundless dreams that can precede a child's arrival. The trees are magnificent, multicolored orbs with trunks painted in unusual hues; the butterflies appear big as eagles; and the sky tint varies from hot pink to a buttery yellow. Since there are no images of the mother growing larger, the book will work equally well for adoptive and expectant families.--Nolan, Abby. Booklist. 104.13 (2008): 74.

(School Library Journal) (PreS-K) A mother voices a familiar message to her new arrival: that relatives and neighbors had expressed their love for the baby in a variety of ways before the birth. Grandmother planted a rosebush, grandfather brought a rocking chair, an aunt painted a mural in the nursery. In Barbour's scenes, flowers, trees, and houses are depicted as bold shapes upon which a multitude of patterns have been painted. The decorative designs contrast with the background expanses of warm color in which dry brushstrokes provide texture. While the unspecified gender and Barbour's choice not to alter the mother's body during pregnancy make this story adaptable to a variety of situations, including adoption, it is questionable whether youngsters will really appreciate this title. The Cubist faces come across as rather stern, and the figures are static. The story lacks the humor of Robert Munsch's Love You Forever (Firefly, 1995), the tension and cultural interest of Barbara M. Joosse's Mama, Do You Love Me? (Chronicle, 1991), and the emotional range in Patricia McMahon and Conor Clarke McCarthy's Just Add One Chinese Sister (Boyds Mills, 2005). This title's greatest appeal may be to parents and grandparents. --- Lukehart, Wendy (Washington DC Public Library), School Library Journal. (2008)