When You Were Born

"When you were born / you came quietly, / and with eyes deep as an ocean / you looked at me, / and I looked at you, / and I thought to myself, / I know you!" So begins the poetic narrative of this picture book tribute to a new baby from author Dianna Hutts Aston and illustrator E.B. Lewis. The text follows the baby as various family and community members—daddy, grandparents, uncle, dog, neighborhood women and children—greet and welcome the newcomer in their own way. The narrative broadens, considering the world as a whole and then refocusing on the baby, and on the blessings sought from the angels for this new being...

Published in 2004, When You Were Born was the author's second picture book, following upon her 2003 Loony Little, show more and fits squarely into the category of books welcoming new babies to her world and celebrating their arrival. I found the text emotionally resonant, and appreciated all of the ways that various people in the baby's life reacted to him. I also greatly enjoyed the accompanying artwork from Lewis, created (according to the rear dust-jacket blurb) using watercolor and marker on existing paintings. I'm not sure if that means other people's paintings, or Lewis' own, but the result was striking. I feel like many such books would feature artwork that was more pastel, perhaps gentler, but here the colors are vivid, and the composition more expressionist. In any case, the result was a lovely book, one I would recommend to new parents to share with their own newborn or younger children. show less

As the baby moves from arm to arm, she hears what are her family’s dreams, hopes and expectations and even maybe her future. Aston makes use of poetry as the baby is rocked from arm to arm creating a very welcoming experience for the little one. Lewis displays the pictures in watercolor and marker bringing you into the arms of the characters.

This book is really sweet. It is talking about when a baby is born and it goes through the mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, the dog, neighborhood mothers, neighborhood children, the world and how they asked the angels. It is very sentimental and the book is full of colors. I think that children would like this book because it is telling them kind of how their family felt when they were born and the colors/illustrations are very interesting and keep the eye moving across the page.