Babies Can't Eat Kimchee! - Hardcover

This is the first collaboration between Susan L. Roth and Nancy Patz.  Susan has written and illustrated several books for children, including Hard Hat Area, Great Big Guinea Pigs, and My Love for You.  She lives in New York City.  Nancy has also written and illustrated many books for children, including Who Was the Woman Who Wore the Hat? and Moses Supposes His Toeses are Roses. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

PreSchool-Grade 2—This could have been just another story about a child adjusting to a new baby in the family. Instead, its Korean-American perspective and mixed-media collage illustrations set the title apart. A big sister lists things that babies don't know and cannot do, beginning with the foods they cannot eat. A note on the CIP page defines kimchee and its ingredients. Although the characters are of Korean heritage, the ideas are universal. What the older girl can do now, she will teach her sibling later—to dance, dress up, draw animals, eat ice cream, swing, whisper early in the morning before anyone else is awake. "And eat kimchee, if we want to." The older child even shows patience when she tries to teach the baby to sing before she is ready, resulting in a full-spread picture of the baby crying, her mouth wide and surrounded by angry lines in fiery colors. All of the pages feature realistic chalk and oil-pastel drawings on a background of textured-paper collage. The illustrations use just the right colors and lines to capture the children's changing emotions. Short enough to read aloud and detailed enough to engage the eye over multiple independent or one-on-one readings, this book is a welcome addition to an overpopulated field.—Julie Ranelli, Kent Island Branch Library, Stevensville, MD
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