You Were Loved Before You Were Born (by Eve Bunting)

Written as if a mother were speaking to her child, this book goes through a litany of all the people who awaited the baby's birth and what they did to prepare. All is to say, the child was loved by so many people even before he/she was born. And is still loved by them today.

Some say it takes a village to raise a child. This book shows that it also takes one to welcome a new child into the world. Parents, grandmothers and grandfathers, cousins, neighbors, and even the family dog anticipate the arrival of the baby, and each adds something to build the loving world that will surround the child when he/she comes. On one page the grandmother plants a rose, on another an aunt paints stars on the walls and ceiling, and on yet another an neighbor holds an amazing butterfly kite he has made. Each does something unique that not only anticipates the birth, but also promises a loving future together with the child.

Warm, simple, gentle text is set within colorful, yet subtle, illustrations, and both will pull all readers into repeated readings. Adults, more that kids, may appreciate the flat, one dimensional artwork, which is made to look like cut-paper collage against uniformly painted backgrounds. However, kids will want to cuddle up with one of the many people who love them to hear this story again and again.

Author: Eve Bunting
Illustrator: Karen Barbour
Publisher: Blue Sky Press
Publication date: January 1, 2008
Number of pages: 32
Hardcover price: $16.99
Read Aloud: 3
Read Alone: 6