Granite Baby

The pictures in this book were pretty good. And the text was OK. They worked well together. I had a little trouble keeping the names of the five sisters straight. And the concept of a "granite baby" threw me for a loop for a bit. I expected the granite baby to be like a statue. Instead this one moved and cried a lot. There are 16 scenes in this book, almost all of which are two pages wide. The story is a Paul Bunyan type tall tale set in Paul Bunyan land (upper New England). It is about 5 giant sisters who decide to create a son out of rock. The story is about how they learn to take care of their son. I would have liked the book better if one of the sisters had given birth to the kid. And I would have liked it better if the illustrations had been done in a different style so I could have remembered the names of the sisters more easily. 4 stars!

I checked this out from the library and my 3 year old son LOVES this book! I have found myself pulling it out to read to my 6 month old because it is so much fun to real aloud. The language is "downhome" and I can hear my Texan drawl come out as I read about Lil Fella to my children. My three year old smiles and doesn't take his eyes off the pages. Wonderful illustrations, although Ruby is a bit odd. Folks who like this book will also like MORE, MORE, MORE by Vera B. Williams, which has the same kind of nurturing flow to it.