Midnight Babies

by Margaret Wild, Ann James (Illustrator)

While her family snores away, Baby Brenda bounces out of bed and heads to the Midnight Café with her friends. It’s time for the babies to play! The mischievous toddlers are all set to dance and feast—but can they share in the fun with Baby Mario and his friends? Bright, comic illustrations capture the spirit of this uproariously funny story, perfect for the youngest reader.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 2001

About the author

Margaret Wild is one of Australia's most highly respected picture-book creators whose award-winning children's books are loved by children all over the world. Margaret has published over seventy picture books for young children and she has been the recipient of the Nan Chauncy Award and the Lady Cutler Award for her contributions to Australian children's literature.

Reviews

[Joanna Pingel]

This is a fun and funny book for young children. It explains how these babies at midnight when the parents go to sleep jump out of bed. Out of bed these babies dance and play with the other babies awake.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baby Brenda goes on a midnight adventure with all of her baby friends. In preparation for her adventure, she sneaks out of her room and gathers food. Once she has enough food, she sneaks out the cat door and meets her friends. They take all of their food and a big wagon of Jell-O to their special nighttime meeting place. They meet Baby Mario and his friends, who do not have food. They share and have lots of fun. Finally, the babies go back home for the rest of the night. In the morning, Baby Brenda cannot eat a bite of her breakfast!
The artwork for this book is done with chalk on colored pieces of paper. The illustrations are done in a cartoon style, but do closely mimic real life. The babies all have joyful expressions on their faces and are clearly having fun in their midnight adventures.
The words in this book come together to make a pleasing read-aloud. There are several opportunities in this book to have some fun making neat baby noises and other fun sounds. The children will love hearing this story about babies who have their own adventures without their parents.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This tells the tale of a baby who likes to go out at night when the rest of her family is asleep. She meets up with her friends and stays out all night only to have a secret in the morning. I can see how this might be entertaining for kids but I can see it as problematic for parents. As a child that had extreme issues with sleepwalking which sometimes ended with injury, I can only imagine how frightening it would be to be the parent in that situation. Again, I can see how this was supposed to be lighthearted, but it really gave me pause.

[Rusty Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

"At midnight, when absolutely anything can happen, Baby Brenda bounces out of bed."

Pros: It is short, cute, illustrated in a fun rough way, and has a fun ending. Cons: none.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picture Book

[Lindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't explain it....but both my girls love this book.