What Shall We Do with the Boo Hoo Baby?

by Cressida Cowell, Ingrid Godon

Well-meaning animal friends try their best to quiet a crying baby the new board book edition of this warm and humorous favorite.


Baby won't stop crying! "What shall we do with the boo-hoo baby?" This simple question, posed by Baby's animal friends is one that any new parent or sibling will understand. Baby's friends try everything, but the tears just keep coming....until they realize that what Baby REALLY needs is a nice nap. Baby's loving animal friends will reassure families everywhere that there's often no single answer no one answer to the question, "What shall we do with the boo-hoo baby?"

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Storytime, Friendship, Juvenile, Fiction

12 pages, Board Book

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Cressida Cowell grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland. She was convinced that there were dragons living on this island, and has been fascinated by dragons ever since. She has a BA in English Literature from Oxford University, a BA in Graphic Design from St Martin's and an MA in Narrative Illustration from Brighton. Cressida loves illustrating her own work, but also loves writing books for other people to illustrate as the end result can be so unexpected and inspiring. Cressida has written and illustrated eight books in the popular Hiccup series. The unique blend of child centred humour and sublime prose made Hiccup an instant hit. How to Train Your Dragon is now published in over 30 languages. A DreamWorks Animation feature film is out in March 2010. Also the author of picture books, Cressida has won the Nestle Children's Book Prize 2006 and has been shortlisted for many others. Cressida lives in Hammersmith with her husband and three children.

Her Books:
1. How to Train Your Dragon (2003)
2. How to Be a Pirate (2004)
3. How to Speak Dragonese (2005)
4. How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse (2006)
5. How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale (2007)
6. A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons (2008)
7. How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm (2008)
8. How to Break a Dragon’s Heart (2010)
9. How to Steal a Dragon's Sword (2011)
10. How to Seize a Dragon's Jewel (2012)

Reviews

[Carol]

very good book...my little girl loved this story..worth reading! !!

[Alyce Hunt]

Genius. Utterly genius.
It's perfect for reading to little ones, because it has all of the different animal noises for you to make to entertain them.
It's perfect for parents - particularly parents of very young babies - because it reminds you of all the different things to check when you're little one is being a grumpus. Are they hungry? Do they need changing? Are they sleepy?
One of the most intimidating things about having a fresh little human to care for was trying to remember all of the different things it might need, so I'm definitely going to be purchasing What Shall We Do With The Boo Hoo Baby? for friends who are expecting their first little one.

[Kelsey]

Age: Infants-Toddler

Older siblings and parents can relate to the painstaking things we do to calm crying babies as this band of animals try food, a bath, playtime, and--finally--bedtime. Repetitious animal sounds make this great for crowd participation and for sympathetic nods of agreement from the audience.

[Tori]

A cat, a dog, a cow, and a dog wonder what to do with a crying baby. Feed him? Bathe him? Play with him? In the end, they put him to bed. A cute book. The line "What shall we do with the boo hoo baby?" is repeated several times so I had the audience repeat it with me. And the animal noises as well.
The kids liked it. The parents liked it. Would use again.

[Vicki]

The baby isn't happy and the cow, duck, cat & dog try to figure out what will make it stop crying.

Several repetitive rhymes, make this a fun read aloud to a young group. Also making animal sounds is a fun activity for a group as the story is read.

The illustrations are very child friendly.

[Henna]

A lovely book written in both Chinese and English. The baby cannot stop crying, cat dog, cow and duck try every way possible to comfort poor baby, what happens at the end? A great book to read for a PSHE session during circle time (caring for others)

[Pam]

The animals can't figure out what to do with the baby. They cry after everything the animals try until finally they put him down for a nap. Then everyone falls asleep.
Younger readers will appreciate the humor.

[Jaimee]

I love this book! It is great to use to begin critical thinking by asking if the child thinks each attempt to calm the baby in the book. I read it in story time and each kid loved the book, and different ages pointed out different things.

[Jesse]

The animals are taking turns trying to figure out how to soothe the crying baby. Sweet, with an extra cute ending.

[Kat]

Qu'est-ce qu'on va faire avec le bébé ouin-ouin?

I learnt a duck in French says "coin-coin"!

[Sandy]

The baby needs something. Its animal care givers try everything until they figure out exactly what was needed. Cute book. Kids definitely enjoy it.

[Kornelis Sietsma]

Great except - why on earth didn't any of the animals think to change the baby's nappy??

[Spencer]

2021
Gift from Harper's grandmother

[Trish]

A cute book about a baby.

[Kate]

Perfect

[Heidi-Marie]

I thought I had read this before, but when I read it "again" I realized I had not. Really cute pictures and a great ending. Fun to see the animals trying to help the baby. A perfect lap-read with a young 'un who can read along with you and make the animal/baby sounds over and over. Not sure how often the adult could read over and over! :-) I could see a child who loves this being able to "read" it by themselves after a few times with an adult.

Could be a good toddler storytime read if there were a larger copy.

10/12/16 & 10/13/16 Used as closer for Ducks toddler theme. Finally! I have had this on my To Use list for over 4 years. At last!! We managed fine with a regular sized copy. And I inverted the words so the kids could tell me what the animals' were saying. I told them they were helping me to read--yay for early literacy skills training.

[Stacey]

The version that i reads was actually and EAL book with Tamil translations which is why i decided to write a book review. The book has large simple pictures with short sentences that relate to the pictures. If a child struggles with reading this book they would be able to interpret the story by the pictures alone. This is a sweet book about a dog, cat, cow and duck who find a crying baby and show they go about trying to cheer the baby up. They try feeding it, bathing it as well as other things until finally the baby is put to bed. I would aim this book at 5-7 year olds. Those with younger siblings will be able to identify with the book and it would also be a good book to discuss feelings.

[Sherry]

Love this Book! So clever. So cute. Perfect for a preschooler with a new baby in the house. Babies would like it too - as would an early elementary beginning reader. So precious! The animals try to soothe a crying baby. The dedication in the book says "To Perplexed Parents Everywhere" Read it for yourself - read it to your baby! I have the paperback version - but I see that have it in boardbook form - this would be great as long as they don't summarize the story or cut out the darling illustrations to make it a board book.

[Jack Kirby and the X-man]

Basically the only good feature is that it is published in a HUGE number of languages - 21!

In the Spanish/English version I read I found it difficult to distinguish between the English and the Spanish - the text begins and ends all over the page.

The story itself has lots of onomatopoeia - it's interesting to see that dogs say Guau, guau! in Spanish - but other than that the animal sounds don't add much to the story.

The illustrations on the other hand are pretty fun!

[Library Quine]

Various animals try to calm the baby in nice repetitive text. There is lots of opportunity for a young audience to join in with their animal noises. The animals try a number of activities; feeding, bathing, playing to quieter the baby. All work for a time, but then the "Boo- hoo- hoo" starts again. Finally they find the solution. I found the layout of the text a little confusing at times, and would prefer a version in one language just so that the text is easier to read.

[Savannah]

The baby said, "Boo-Hoo-Hoo!"
So the cow, cat, dog, and duck ask, "What shall we do with the Boo-hoo Baby?"

Dog suggests- Feed him (while the animals say meow, bow-wow, quack, and moo then the Boo-hoo Baby says, Boo-hoo again)
Cat suggests- Bathe him
Cow suggests- Play with him
Duck suggests- Put him to bed

Baby says, "ZZZZZZZZZZ."
then the baby wakes up happy and all the animals are sleeping in a pile.

[Kathleen]

Kid 1 LOVED this book, her daddy read it to her regularly when they were home together for the summer (starting at age 4 months). It made such an impact, that we could be in the car, she start crying and we would recite the book to her and she would calm down to listen. Fast Forward three years and now it is kid 2's favorite book! She crawls over to her book shelf every night to grab it for her bedtime story (age 11 months). Some nights Kid 1 will read it to her. Love!

[Renate]

This is a great book for making animal sounds and crying baby sounds. For some reason, a group of animals including a cow, dog and duck are responsible for taking care of a crying baby. They try everything until they finally figure out the baby wants to go to sleep. The words repeat and are large and easy to point to. Pointing to the animal sounds while saying the words will help with phonological awareness.

[Kelsi Watts]

I came across this book at my cousin's while reading to her young children. It's a pretty good book to be used when someone is throwing a tantrum. I would use it in a pre-k classroom. It helps calm down the child upset and crying but also gives the caregiver or teacher time to settle down as well. Overall it's a great quick read to slow down everyone's pace and get back into the swing of things for the remainder of the day.

[Katie Fitzgerald]

Read at Baby/Toddler Story Time on 5/8/12: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

Read at Drop-In Story Time on 8/31/12: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

Read at Toddler Lap Time on 8/23/13: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

[Helen Kumpel]

I need to expand my ELL list to more than just Spanish bilingual books. This book is a way to incorporate a scenario (a new baby) that most of the children would be familiar with. This book incorporates the Chinese language along with English as they tell of animals trying to make the crying baby happy.

[Cheryl]

*Very* short. Cute enough animals and ending. Realistic story arc. But muddy colors that make the book look old, faded, and worn make it unappealing to me. And, really, I'd have liked just a little more, either in the text to read, or in the pictures to talk about. 2.5 stars, rounded down because I had higher hopes and was disappointed.

[Gail]

There are so many animal sounds books out there with pictures I like more. This might be better for an older child with a baby sibling, because the book is about animals trying to calm down a crying baby.

[Edna]

This is a major-cuteness book with animals trying to soothe a crying baby each in their own way and collectively. The animals are those we use to first introduce to the animal world; along with the gentle chalk-like illustrations, the book has a visual feel of softness that is extremely appealing.

[Libby]

My son really likes this because of all the animal noises, and I think the pictures and story are really cute. I think repetition is probably a good thing for my 1-year-old, and there is a lot in this book. I could see this being a good first reader book too, because of the repetition.