Wee Rhymes: Baby's First Poetry Book by Jane Yolen (review)

Veteran author Yolen offers a combination of her own verses and traditional nursery rhymes in this collection of seventy-five poems for the youngest poetry audiences. Topics are familiar tot favorites such as food and eating ("Munch, Munch"), beloved toys and comfort objects ("Everybody Needs a Teddy Sometimes"), and bedtime ("Night Worries"), as well as some acknowledgement of setbacks and obstacles ("Oops, Whoops"). The verses don't always scan well and they're on the blandly adorable side, but they're sweet and chantable; engrossed youngsters will appreciate the opportunities for playful laptime reads. Dyer's pencil and watercolor art is delicate and personable, with a pretty multiracial cast of babies and caretakers (preponderantly female); warm, pale gold predominates as a background color and tasteful borders frame the pages, emphasizing the "treasury" flavor of the volume. This is rich with adult gift appeal, but there's genuine appeal in many of the nursery-rhyme-esque verses, so youngsters—and baby-shower honorees—will warm to this collection. Indexes of titles and first lines are appended.