School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-A warm, tender picture book in which a mother tells her daughter about her first 24 hours of life outside of the womb. The opening picture shows a bewildered, wrinkled, life-sized baby, still with her umbilical cord, supported by the doctor's hands. The cord is snipped, a nurse slips a hat on baby's head, and mother and father envelop her with love. Mother breastfeeds her, and relatives gather to admire, take photos, and welcome the new arrival. The description of the infant's first sounds and actions is gentle and poetic. Emberley's illustrations in pencil and pastels fill the oversized pages with soft-focused, cozy colors and true-to-life detail. For the special moment when parents want to answer a child's questions about birth, this book offers both facts and reassurance. The arrival of Happy Birth Day! is an occasion worth celebrating.-Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The first moments and hours after a baby is born are among life's most precious. Here, that special interlude of newness and wonder is shared with young readers, who invariably delight in hearing about the day they arrived in the world. Harris addresses this audience directly: "Suddenly there you werea whole new person, our baby! We saw all of you from head to toe and we loved you the moment we saw you." All the milestones of a baby's first day are lovingly chronicled, from the first cry and the snipping of the umbilical cord to the cuddling, the nursingeven the first burp and yawn. Tenderness flows like a current throughout the warmhearted prose and the gentle, sweeping lines of Emberley's realistic artwork. With its oversize format and large-as-life illustrations, this book telegraphs a sense of immediacy that makes it all the more appealing. Ages 3-8. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
This warm, loving story tells about one child's birth, from the moment she is born to when her mother first breast-feeds her and relatives welcome her. The narration addresses the listener directly -- 'I was so happy to finally hold you' -- but the numerous family details prevent the text from being a universal story. Large full-page illustrations joyfully express the many emotions that surround the birth experience. From HORN BOOK 1996, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Perhaps designed for the baby-gift market (the title page is preceded by a page for recording a newborn's vital statistics), this book occupies an unusual niche: There are plenty of books about gestation, birth, and infancy, but this one focuses on the baby's experiences in the minutes and hours immediately following birth, particularly on the bonding between parents and newborn. In carefully detailed text and pictures, Harris and Emberley (It's Perfectly Normal, 1994) make the day of firsts realistic without being clinical: The wrinkled, puffy baby is more presentable than many newborns. Large, smiling adult faces and solicitous hands surround the baby in nearly every picture. The earthier aspects of infancy are all noted: cutting the umbilical cord, nursing, peeing, pooping, burping, sneezing, and hiccuping, as well as sleeping and crying. The predominant message, however, is of the love and wonder that greet this child from her first moment. (Picture book. 3-8)
Booklist Review
Ages 3^-7. Young children love to look at photographs of babies, especially pictures of themselves when they were little. They marvel at their tiny toes and fingers, squinty red faces, wrinkly feet, and dainty pink nails. In a seamless blending of text and artwork, this picture book goes a session with a photo album one better, catching close up the miracle of a newborn baby and the sweet joy and physicality of its first day in the world. Harris' affectionate first-person text, focusing on one young couple welcoming a newborn, is very personal: "I'll never forget the moment you were born. . . . You let out a loud cry--about as loud as a coyote howling at the moon." Yet it is full of the universal wonder of new life and the quiet drama of family bonding. Emberley's paintings are spectacular. Large, realistic, and softly colored, they literally glow as they catch the tender moments: the baby girl naked, eyes barely open, umbilical cord still attached; squalling, fingers clutching; at mother's breast; in father's arms; peacefully asleep encircled by Mom and Dad. The book will be a hugely appealing library item, with potential for small-group use as well as lap sharing. An interview with Harris, on page 1495, lends further insight into the making of this touching book, which speaks with joy and wonder to young children and their parents. --Stephanie Zvirin
