Dressing

by Helen Oxenbury

Baby appears wearing his diaper, undershirt, sock, shoe, shirt, overalls, and hat. On heavy board pages.

Genres: Picture Books

14 pages, Board Book

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Married to John Burningham

Born in 1938 and growing up in Ipswich, England, Helen Oxenbury loved nothing more than drawing. As a teenager, she entered art school and basked in the pleasure of drawing, and nothing but drawing, all day. During vacations she helped out at the Ipswich Repertory Theatre workshop, mixing paints for set designers. It was there that she decided her future lay in theater design.

While studying costume design, however, Helen Oxenbury was told by a teacher, "This is hopeless, you know. You ought to go and do illustrations--you're much more interested in the character, and we don't know who's going to play the part!"


But sets and scenery, not books, remained Helen Oxenbury's preoccupation for several more years as she embarked on careers in theater, film, and TV. After marrying John Burningham, another of the world's most eminent children's book illustrators, and giving birth to their first child, at last she turned to illustrating children's books. "When I had babies," Helen Oxenbury says, "I wanted to be home with them and look for something to do there."


Today, Helen Oxenbury is among the most popular and critically acclaimed illustrators of her time. Her numerous books for children include the Greenaway Medal-winning ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and its companion, ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, both by Lewis Carroll; Smarties Book Prize-winning FARMER DUCK by Martin Waddell; SO MUCH by Trish Cooke; as well as her classic board books for babies. More recently, she collaborated with author Phyllis Root on the jubilant, no-nonsense tall tale BIG MOMMA MAKES THE WORLD. "As I read Phyllis's text, I imagined Big Momma as part Buddha, part housewife," she says. "It was intimidating to create a whole world, but very enjoyable."


And what does she love most about her work? Thinking up new ideas? Seeing the finished book? Not at all. For Helen, "The best part is when I think I know what I'm doing and I've completed a few drawings. In fact, when I get about a third of the way through, and I feel I'm on my way, then I'm happy. It's like reading a good book--you don't want it to end."


Helen Oxenbury and her husband make their home in London, where the illustrator works in a nearby studio. She is also an avid tennis player.

Reviews

[Manybooks]

Helen Oxenbury’s board book Dressing is totally and utterly basic (which also means that Dressing obviously also has a definite age suitability limit of at the very latest three years of age maximum). And with Dressing Oxenbury demonstrates using a lovely combination of sweetly colourful, visually realistic pictures and a text ONLY consisting of clothing related nouns how a young toddler (a little boy) is being dressed for the day (from his diaper to finally a hat). But well, I do find it kind of strange that in Dressing the little boy’s shoes are not put on last, as that is definitely what I do when I put on my own clothing, and is also how my mother used to dress us when we were very young, and that in my humble opinion shoes need to come at the end and not somewhere in the middle of dressing oneself, although I guess that I might also be a bit ridiculous and anal taking any kind of umbrage at where in Dressing the little by’s shoes are donned (but well, I do stand by thinking that shoes are one of the last pieces of clothing we tend to put on, or rather they should be).

And yes, for a basic board book introducing toddlers to not only articles of clothing but also that these articles of clothing are meant to be put on, are meant to be worn, Dressing is for me and to me a pretty well perfect starting point, showing visually and textually the art of dressing oneself to very young children with simple artwork and very basic printed words (and with my only mild complaint regarding Dressing and the artwork being that I personally do wish the young boy having his clothes put on could be rendered by Helen Oxenbury with a bit of hair on his head, as not being completely bald).

Four stars for Dressing (and I sure hope that there are no ignorant MORONS out there who will freak out and rant that Dressing is inappropriate because Helen Oxenbry depicts a diaper and that the first picture of the toddler shows him naked except for having on that diaper, for honestly, I would consider ANYONE having issues with an illustration of a young child wearing nothing but a diaper as not only puritanical but hugely mentally unhinged).

[Katrina]

The simpleness of this book is what makes it good. On each page all it has is the word, the baby, and the new article of clothing. There could be no mix up as to what the word is referring to. It also gives opportunity to review since each old article of clothing is still on the baby. Also, it goes in sequence of how one would get dressed.

[Katie Beck]

This is a cute book. This is a good book to read to young children to teach how to dress themselves.