Baby Animals

by Gyo Fujikawa (Illustrator)

Chubby puppies, furry kittens, fuzzy chicks, downy ducklings: Gyo Fujikawa’s
lovable baby animals will captivate children. They’re big (elephants) and small (mice), plump (piglets), and playful (lambs). With each picture, kids learn a little bit about the animal—the sound it makes, how soft it might feel, and what it can do. Plus, they’ll discover something else very important: that very young creatures have to be petted, snuggled, and hugged very gently…just like the children themselves.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

24 pages, Board Book

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Gyo Fujikawa was an American illustrator and children's book author. A prolific creator of more than 50 books for children, her work is regularly in reprint and has been translated into 17 languages and published in 22 countries. Her most popular books, Babies and Baby Animals, have sold over 1.7 million copies in the U.S. Fujikawa is recognized for being the earliest mainstream illustrator of picture books to include children of many races in her work, before it was politically correct to do so.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely picture book with beautiful illustrations of baby animals and the noises they make. The children in the book are all shown as being kind and gentle and this book gives a positive message of appreciation and kindness. The only downside to this book is that it's quite short.

Read on open library.

[Freddie D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh how I ADORE Fujikawa's illustrations. The soft pastel colours and the sweet, angelic faces are truly the stuff of dreams. Her baby animals are no different, and I always enjoy the onomatopoeia of any animal books for toddlers.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A board book intro to how various baby animals look and if they have special names.

We're working on adding more of Fujikawa's picture books to our library so when kids learn about her they can read some of her books. This is a cute intro to baby animals with adorable illustrations.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of animals with their special names if they have them.

Pictures are classically cute.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wore this board book out with all three of my kids. Loved the illustrations.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was originally one of my books as a child, and now I read it to my daughter. Our copy is a larger print board book edition. The book handles well for our daughter who just turned one, and I don't have to worry about her tearing the pages. The story is very slow paced as each page teaches something about a new baby animal and what sound it makes. It makes a point at the end of the book to state that all animals should be handled gently. Seeing as we have 3 cats and make regular trips to my friend's barn, this is a lesson that I cannot endorse enough. All animals should be treated with care! It's an extra bonus that we have a fun way to teach our daughter this that she enjoys.

[Malckey P · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gentle book where all of the animals big and small like to be petted and snuggled gently. My favorite animals in this book are the baby goat - meh meh and the baby monkey -chi chi cheee. For a long time neither of my parents could make a decent elephant trumpting sound, but Mama has been working hard on it and now it's almost sounds like an elephant instead of a sick trumpet.

[Rachel C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gyo Fujikawa is one of my favorite children's book illustrators. I've listed the above as an example of her work, but I'd recommend anything she's done.

[Suzanne Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tennyson absolutely loves this book right now. He points to the animals and waits for Jeremy to make the corresponding animal sound. So much fun!

[Karyn R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book--I have loved it since I was a wee child!

[Julie]

Read to me by my Granmamá!

[Alyse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pictures are cute, love that it has not only the animal name but also the noise they make. The monkey and the elephant make different noises in the book than I make for them though =)

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

daphne seems drawn to this book. She loves choosing it and flipping through. As I type, she just picked it out of the pile of books again.