REVIEW: Happy Baby Day!

Let’s face it, babies are adorable! If you don’t have a real live baby to celebrate this day with, how about reading a picture book about a baby? I present to you one of my favorite baby books: 

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​TITLE: MUSTACHE BABY
AUTHOR: Bridget Heos
ILLUSTRATOR: Joy Ang
PUBLISHER: Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/2013
OPENING LINES: 
When Baby Billy was born, his family noticed something odd:
He had a mustache.
“What does this mean?” his mother asked.
“Well, it depends,” the nurse said. “You’ll have to wait and see whether it is a good-guy mustache or a bad-guy mustache.”

This book has brilliant opening lines: How can you not want to turn the page when you read that Billy was born with a mustache? You just HAVE to!

This book has a brilliant concept: A baby with a mustache? And the family has to wait to see if it’s a “good-guy” or “bad-guy” mustache? Come on! And when Billy’s mustache changes from a good-guy to a bad-guy one as he gets older, could he be hitting the “terrible twos” at about the same time? Coincidence? I think not!

This book has brilliant illustrations: Just look at how Billy’s mustache takes different forms as Billy behaves in different ways. He’s a cowboy and a man of the law and then his mustache curls as he becomes a “cereal” criminal. Hilarious! Joy Ang even incorporated the title of the book into a mustache shape on the cover. 

​I told you, brilliant! This book has cowboys, sword fighters, cat burglars, train robbers, and mustaches, of course. It’s a true example of the marriage between text and illustrations and a must-read. Once you do read it, take a look at its sequel: MUSTACHE BABY MEETS HIS MATCH (2015) which is just as brilliant. Then, if you want even more, Bridget Heos and Joy Ang have teamed up again to create ARRR MUSTACHE BABY (2019). Happy reading!
 
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