Babymoon by Hayley Barrett
Published by Candlewick Press on March 14th 2019
ISBN: 0763688525
Pages: 32
Goodreads

Often used to describe a trip taken by expecting parents before the baby arrives, this book uses Babymoon in the  way that midwives do for taking the time immediately after a baby is born to form connections and settle into the adjustment of transforming from two to three. Barrett captures the magical period with simple rhyming couplets and Martinez-Neal punctuates the text with soft, glowing illustrations. The gentle message of giving yourselves time to adapt to the newness of parenthood is necessary in a country that offers very little parental leave and has expectations that people will go right back to their pre-baby lives. The illustrations are realistic in terms of body size for a new mother and offer a picture of a non-Caucasian family, which is refreshing. The audience is bit narrow since it is intended for new parents and, since it does it through the lens of just one family, it cannot speak to all of the different types of families that exist. But if the reader accepts that this is not the picture of EVERY family, and applies the message broadly and transfers the love felt by new parents for their baby, it is a beautiful addition to the new baby/bedtime picture book shelf.

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth