Baby Beluga (Raffi Songs to Read)

The Internet has a small-but-healthy movement called, "The Wholesome Meme". It's the idea that things we share, like, spread, upvote, twit, and post don't all have to be sarcastic, cutting, political, negative, or an ironic callback. It's okay for things to be "wholesome" again: kind, simple, sincere, and filled with whimsy, expressing a love for all existence, whispering "it's okay" before having a bite of amazing pie that was given to you out of kindness, and not sold to you for profit. Raffi, and in particular Baby Beluga, are my wholesome meme. I never listened to Raffi as a child--it just missed us, I guess. I watched Sesame Street and my parents played Steeleye Span and Simon and Garfunkel-- plenty of wholesome, but not Raffi. show more Raffi came into my life with my own kids. Baby Beluga is as wholesome as it gets--it's about a whale, but on page 4 you do not hear about the polluting humans or the oil barons or whaling. That's for a different book. It's about simple love between mother and child, but on page 5 you do not see the child resist or ask for reassurance that he will be loved even if he turns out to be a raccoon/republican/gay, or see the painful side of love or cruelty or intolerance. That's for a different book. It's about how wonderful the world and nature are, and on page 6 you do not need to be reminded that nature is competitive, or that nature is sick, or that we are distanced from nature by our ongoing effort to digitize our hearts. Baby Beluga is about bedtime, maybe, bedtime as a nice, warm and gentle time, not a time to have a system or to fight against a system. Those other things are all important to say, and important that we talk about them in children's books too... but this book/song is not that. This poem uplifts, and defines joy as something to be enjoyed for its own sake. It is an unconditional hug. The sun is always there, the stars are your friends, forever and always. The waves roll in and the waves roll out. Good night little whale, good night. show less

This is a short little poem/song book about a little beluga whale. The story follows the whale throughout its day of swimming around in the ocean.

Baby Beluga is a pretty cute little book. I can't help but sing it when I read it or even look at it for that matter. At the back of the book, it has the music scores so you could play it and sing it if you wanted.

This book would be great to use with a music unit. It's a poem as well as a song but you could even teach your children how songs are sometimes poems put to music like the national anthem. It would be a really fun book to do with your children if you were teaching anything to do with whales or the ocean to get them into it. I would reccommend it for younger children. Older kids show more would probably find it cheesy. I think it's cute though! show less

So far "Baby Beluga" has the highest words-to-adorable-swaying-baby ratio of all our books (but not all the toys: that honour goes to "Jazzy Sax").

This is an informative song that was turned into a book. I really enjoy this book because it teaches children about beluga whales and talks about other creatures that live in the same habitat. Along with the rhythm of the words, the illustrations in this book are vibrant and show children that beluga whales live where is it very cold, the Arctic Ocean. I love this book because it is both fun and informative for young children.

The pictures in this board book are pleasant, and deeply rooted in the north of BC. The words, or lyrics rather, are uncomfortable to read - even after I learned the tune, I thought the words were awkward.

I really enjoyed reading this book because of the writing that contains a repetition of certain phrases and the colorful illustrations. First, I liked how the book has a sing-songy nature in its writing because certain phrases repeat. For instance, the phrase "Baby beluga in the deep blue sea, / Swim so wild and you swim so free" appears repeatedly throughout the story, and the readers can continue visualizing the baby whale swimming happily in the ocean. The illustrations were also pleasant and colorful to look at, especially the pages that show the family of belugas, penguins, and other sea creatures as well as an eskimo girl in an igloo that sleep peacefully together under the beautiful moonlight. The central message of this book show more seems to be that having a close, loving relationship with family members and friends bring true delight. show less

I think this book is probably only enjoyable to read if you know the song. The rhythm is very difficult as prose.