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The Wild Baby
The Wild Baby
Baby Ben gets into one difficulty after another, from which Mama rescues him--but not for long.
24 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
147 people want to read
About the author
Barbro Lindgren
181 books35 followers Barbro Enskog was born in Bromma, Stockholm. She graduated from art school in 1958 and has been writing books for publication since 1965. Her style has exerted a major influence on Swedish children's literature. Located between realism and surrealism, her works are humorous and imaginative, and her books for children treat important issues to be taken seriously and treated for children.
Early in her career Barbro Lindgren won the 1973 Astrid Lindgren Prize, an annual Swedish literary award distinct from the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The once-in-a-lifetime award established on Astrid Lindgren's 60th birthday honours good writing for children or youth. Barbro Lindgren's long-time collaborator, the illustrator Eva Eriksson (born 1949), won the Prize in 2001.
Early in her career Barbro Lindgren won the 1973 Astrid Lindgren Prize, an annual Swedish literary award distinct from the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The once-in-a-lifetime award established on Astrid Lindgren's 60th birthday honours good writing for children or youth. Barbro Lindgren's long-time collaborator, the illustrator Eva Eriksson (born 1949), won the Prize in 2001.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
October 23, 2012
"Mama loved her baby Ben, her small and precious child,but he always disobeyed her, he was reckless, loud and wild."
This was a childhood favourite. I loved the absurd adventures the baby got into, such as getting lost, being licked by a wolf and licking it back, falling into the toilet, hiding in a clock, and running away while wearing a big blue bag. This is one of those childhood books you never forget!
This was a childhood favourite. I loved the absurd adventures the baby got into, such as getting lost, being licked by a wolf and licking it back, falling into the toilet, hiding in a clock, and running away while wearing a big blue bag. This is one of those childhood books you never forget!
April 13, 2019
Strange. The mother needs to calm down and stop freaking out, but at the same time it seems it gets into the absurd on the other side too. The last page pulled the whole book together very well, and the weirdness had escalated so the whole book went from annoying to endearing.
August 9, 2011
I looooooooooooooooved this book as a child!!!!! My mother still calls me "Wilde Babatjie" (Wild Baby in Afrikaans) at times :)
May 23, 2012
I'm 30 now and I still have this book memorized - my all-time favorite children's book! I wish it was still in print so I could give it to my friends as they become parents!
September 22, 2023
[Hardcover]
The story is lovely in itself, and re-reading it as an adult (and a mother) also makes it a bit melancholic and sore. The little boy is quite the handful for this single (?) mother, but no matter what he dies, she has nothing but love for him. He is her whole world. And the way she supports and even engages in his games, is also quite beautiful. This makes also makes the book a reflection of the ongoing turn in views on children and upbringing at the time.
I remember mainly "reading" this book by studying the illustrations again and again as a child, because the text and rhyme are a bit tedious. As an adult reader, I still find the text and rhymes to be lacking. However, it MIGHT be due to translation.
The illustrations and the story are still really good, and I think it still is good for "reading" only the pictures. It doesn't even need text to get across, which I find delightful!
The story is lovely in itself, and re-reading it as an adult (and a mother) also makes it a bit melancholic and sore. The little boy is quite the handful for this single (?) mother, but no matter what he dies, she has nothing but love for him. He is her whole world. And the way she supports and even engages in his games, is also quite beautiful. This makes also makes the book a reflection of the ongoing turn in views on children and upbringing at the time.
I remember mainly "reading" this book by studying the illustrations again and again as a child, because the text and rhyme are a bit tedious. As an adult reader, I still find the text and rhymes to be lacking. However, it MIGHT be due to translation.
The illustrations and the story are still really good, and I think it still is good for "reading" only the pictures. It doesn't even need text to get across, which I find delightful!
July 3, 2018
Mitt jobb är ytterst betungande, måste läsa så många bilderböcker ... hehe ... Jag läste den här för jag mitt är i ett jobb att undersöka olika illustrationsstilar för tips och trix, men jag hade glömt bort hur mycket jag älskade den här boken. Jag vet inte om jag kommer ihåg rätt att detta var en av mina favoritböcker som liten, men jag hoppas det!
January 15, 2016
I am not sure if reading this puts ideas in our heads or makes us shy away from doing such things.
September 6, 2019
I found myself laughing and recalling the good things of my own son when little in his wild. I do wish I'd found this book when he was little. I think there is an affirmation of his spirit, without any malevolence. He simply is who he is, not a bad child, just a child with energy, curiosity, imagination, and innocence to his mother's distress. Yes, she is mighty distressed, because she so truly adores her child, even though his wanderings and her chores at times make it difficult. The message of life and love are clearly felt in this book. And I think too may times in modern books we emphasize a lack of reality, add judgments and expectations to children they are not fully ready to comprehend or accomplish, as well as on parents to be perfect.
I was a single parent, and imagine if I had been reading this to my son, I would have felt appreciation that this author/artist recognized and acknowledged me in the mix while doing the same for my child.
If we can't find the humor in life's challenges, we may be doomed.
I was a single parent, and imagine if I had been reading this to my son, I would have felt appreciation that this author/artist recognized and acknowledged me in the mix while doing the same for my child.
If we can't find the humor in life's challenges, we may be doomed.
February 16, 2023
Ho intenzione di leggermi tutti i Miniborei, ma mano che li trovo di seconda mano, ovviamente. Son troppo costosi per quello che offrono di solito.
Qui c'è un libretto in rime baciate su un bambino tremendo e la mamma che cerca in tutti i modi di calmarlo.
Ovviamente non sono il lettore ideale di questo libro per mancanza di figli, però posso dire che le illustrazioni sono molto belle. La storia... normale... Il bimbetto è vagamente irritante, però.
Qui c'è un libretto in rime baciate su un bambino tremendo e la mamma che cerca in tutti i modi di calmarlo.
Ovviamente non sono il lettore ideale di questo libro per mancanza di figli, però posso dire che le illustrazioni sono molto belle. La storia... normale... Il bimbetto è vagamente irritante, però.
February 19, 2025
The naughtiness of the bad baby always pleased me - I think kids enjoy reading scandalous tales of other children’s misdeeds. I liked the rhythm, the sing-song way it sounded read aloud. Also the pictures are hilarious. The little scruffy baby with spindly limbs, his limp little arms when he’s ill, the way he looked walking along with just a pair of legs sticking out of a bag. So good!
December 14, 2018
I just don't appreciate this, I guess. I mean, I had to use a leash on my youngest, so I get it, but I wasn't a single mom either and I'm just exhausted for this poor woman, and can't think about the humor of it. Translation seems awkward to me, too.
February 6, 2019
Summary: This funny book is about a truly wild baby who doesn't exactly listen very well to mom.
Connections: Not always wanting to do what the parents say
How you would use it: Maybe in my classroom library
Subject heading:
Mothers and sons--Fiction.
Stories in rhyme.
Connections: Not always wanting to do what the parents say
How you would use it: Maybe in my classroom library
Subject heading:
Mothers and sons--Fiction.
Stories in rhyme.
May 26, 2017
This is bar far my favorite book from my childhood. I wish I could share it with all of my friends and their kids, but it's out of print! *sniff*
October 17, 2019
Loved this book as a child!
April 11, 2021
Odd story
February 17, 2022
Rhyming fun about a baby that seems to always run off.
March 22, 2023
Lustig och rolig för små barn.
May 7, 2014
One of my favorites as a tiny child. (I tended to gravitate to a theme of an untamable child who is loved just the same. One of my other favorites was The Elephant and the Bad Baby by Elfrida Vipont
)
The author of the Wild Baby, Barbro Lindgren, received the 2014 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, a respected children's literature prize.
What I found in perusing the internet for information on these dear Swedish authors was that in 1964 Barbro Lindgren had sent her very first manuscript to the Swedish publishing house where Astrid Lindgren ran the children's department. She received back a letter offering advice for improving her story-- from Astrid Lindgren herself!! What a treat!!! Astrid Lindgren gives some good practical advice such as, "Each chapter ought to be more or less a free-standing novel with a solid core to it" and " he author makes it too easy for herself and jumps from one episode to the next without getting the most out of any of them. All too many do it that way because it’s an easy way to write books" and ending humbly with "Well, these are just some ideas...I hope I haven’t robbed you of all your courage now, because that was not my intention. Perhaps I will get to see your manuscript again.
I hope so. With kind regards, Astrid Lindgren"
Swooon!
LIttle did I know that this story of a Wild Baby I loved so much was shaped in a way by an author who created stories I would meet and love later in life, those of Pippi Longstocking and Bullerby (or Noisy Village, in English)
P.S. ALSO Jack Prelutsky translated the Wild Baby into English!! What was his connection to Swedish children's authors, I wonder, that he knew about the Wild Baby and chose to translate it into English? Thank God he did!
) The author of the Wild Baby, Barbro Lindgren, received the 2014 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, a respected children's literature prize.
What I found in perusing the internet for information on these dear Swedish authors was that in 1964 Barbro Lindgren had sent her very first manuscript to the Swedish publishing house where Astrid Lindgren ran the children's department. She received back a letter offering advice for improving her story-- from Astrid Lindgren herself!! What a treat!!! Astrid Lindgren gives some good practical advice such as, "Each chapter ought to be more or less a free-standing novel with a solid core to it" and " he author makes it too easy for herself and jumps from one episode to the next without getting the most out of any of them. All too many do it that way because it’s an easy way to write books" and ending humbly with "Well, these are just some ideas...I hope I haven’t robbed you of all your courage now, because that was not my intention. Perhaps I will get to see your manuscript again.
I hope so. With kind regards, Astrid Lindgren"
Swooon!
LIttle did I know that this story of a Wild Baby I loved so much was shaped in a way by an author who created stories I would meet and love later in life, those of Pippi Longstocking and Bullerby (or Noisy Village, in English)
P.S. ALSO Jack Prelutsky translated the Wild Baby into English!! What was his connection to Swedish children's authors, I wonder, that he knew about the Wild Baby and chose to translate it into English? Thank God he did!
September 22, 2013
By: Babaro Lingren
Illustrations By: Eva Eriksson
Grade Levels: K-2
DRA, Lexile Measure, GLE: n/a
Reviewed By: Aaron Carter
This is among my children's favorite books. It combines a hilarious storyline with vivid, comical illustrations. Essentially, baby "Ben" gets into everything, and he never listens to his mother, so he finds himself in many potentially dangerous situations that his mother has to rescue him from. The extensive use of rhyme, with sentences two and four always ending with rhyming words, and sentences one and three and five and six doing so at times, is perfect for building the base of phonological awareness, so this book would be perfect for kindergarten and first grade.
Illustrations By: Eva Eriksson
Grade Levels: K-2
DRA, Lexile Measure, GLE: n/a
Reviewed By: Aaron Carter
This is among my children's favorite books. It combines a hilarious storyline with vivid, comical illustrations. Essentially, baby "Ben" gets into everything, and he never listens to his mother, so he finds himself in many potentially dangerous situations that his mother has to rescue him from. The extensive use of rhyme, with sentences two and four always ending with rhyming words, and sentences one and three and five and six doing so at times, is perfect for building the base of phonological awareness, so this book would be perfect for kindergarten and first grade.
November 8, 2014
I have such fond memories of this book from when my daughter was little! We would check it out from the library often in the late 80s. I love Jack Prelutsky's translation of Baby Ben's antics and his mama's fears she'll lose him forever. Many years later, I still have much of the book memorized. "Mama loved her baby Ben, her small and precious child, but he always disobeyed her, he was reckless, loud and wild." I just bought a copy on eBay to read to my new granddaughter. I'm looking forward to another generation with The Wild Baby. I wish it were still in print. (Although a "new" condition copy can be had on Amazon for $592!)
July 28, 2009
This was the best garage sale purchase of my life. I cannot recall when 25 cents brought me more enjoyment.
"The Wild Baby" is a narrative poem about Baby Ben, a boy who has the nerve to do all the things I was too afraid to try as a child. All the while his loving mother worries and does her best to care for her wild child. One of my favorite childhood storybooks! Comical illustration!
"The Wild Baby" is a narrative poem about Baby Ben, a boy who has the nerve to do all the things I was too afraid to try as a child. All the while his loving mother worries and does her best to care for her wild child. One of my favorite childhood storybooks! Comical illustration!
February 25, 2008
I loved it when my mom read this book to us. The illustrations are hilarious and now that I'm a mom, I wish I could find this in print. I have vague feelings of empathy with the lovable harried mother of that book.
March 30, 2009
Adorable. If you have a free spirited child who does not yet comprehend the concept of sitting still, this book will delight. Wild Baby gets a Puppy, which I suppose you could call a sequel to this book, was unfortunately not nearly as charming as this gem.
June 5, 2011
Mama loved her baby Ben, her small and precious child,but he always disobeyed her, he was reckless, loud and wild....
25 years later (my boys are 30 and 28 these days), I still have this precious book memorized. It was out all-time favorite and a merry testament to a mother's love.
25 years later (my boys are 30 and 28 these days), I still have this precious book memorized. It was out all-time favorite and a merry testament to a mother's love.
May 31, 2012
One of the best children's books EVER! I can still recite the entire book 25+ years later, which came in very handy while trying to entertain a cranky child in the backseat of a car while stuck in traffic. I can't believe it's not still in print. :(
January 11, 2008
Written in verse, this delightful tale of the adventures of a naughty baby is a joy to read aloud over and over again. The illustrations and rhyme made a favorite of my children.
August 18, 2011
Absolutely in love with this book. If anyone finds it at a garage or library sale can you please get it for me??? I want to have a copy of this again so badly!!
August 8, 2012
I absolutely loved this book when I was small. No matter what that rotten child did, his mother still loved him.
August 24, 2012
One of our favorite children's books. :)
August 6, 2014
This was cute. I would be exceedingly stressed out if I was the mom in this book, but it was cute to read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews