Michelle Sinclair Colman

This review was previously published. I rewrote and edited it.

A little girl wears her tutu despite her family and friends being tired of seeing her in it no matter what she's doing. The text is simple and rhymes "She wore her tutu to school. "Not again," her mother sighed./She wore her tutu in the pool. "Not again," her father moaned." But the rhyme scheme doesn't flow well.

I like Nakata's colorful and sweet illustrations, except for the one where her brother has weirdly exaggerated teeth, show more but they're too blurry for the average toddler. The cover has a little frill of actual netting over the tutu which will, at my library, probably be torn out by the second checkout.

Verdict: This might have made a passable picture book but I don't think it works as a board book. I don't think the board book audience will even understand what's going on. It might have made a cute picture book for 3-4 year olds though.

ISBN: 9780307976987; Published 2013 by Robin Corey Books/Random House; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to library prize box show less

This book is more for adults than babies. Its slim, stylish (and stylized) illustrations are certainly cute but hardly evocative or substantive. Furthermore, Colman's and stereotypical characterizations of "country babies", while certainly not malicious, are not particularly thoughtful either. About all she has to offer on the subject are the declarations that country babies "eat hearty" and are on a first-name basis with their neighbor, the cow. In my opinion, these books are meant to be show more more fun for parents to read than for babies to listen to. show less

This tongue-in-cheek list of activities for urban babies is funny for adults, but right over the head of the board book age. Might be funny for older kids who can recognise some of the actions?

“Winter Babies Wear Layers” is a part of the board book series “Urban Babies Wear Black” by Michelle Sinclair Colman and illustrated by Nathalie Dion. In “Winter Babies Wear Layers”, the book describes what babies do in the winter along with colorful illustrations. The text is very basic and it would be easy for maybe pre-school children to read, but the text alone does not make for an interesting story. The best part of this book is the way the text and the illustrations show more compliment each other to make the book funny. On one page for instance, the text reads “Winter babies are angels” but instead the picture shows a baby throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of a snow angel. Adults and older children will find this book quite humorous but young children (who board books are designed for) probably won’t get as much out of it as say, a textile board book. show less