One naked baby 👶 five recommended books

Can we read? No. 154

Has anyone told you lately what an amazing job you’re doing?

No? NO?!

Well, shame on them, because LOOK AT YOU, absolutely killing it getting up every day, day in and day out, breathing in and out all day long as you go about your life, doing all the things you do, getting it done, making it work, building bridge after bridge and getting over it again and again.

I know it feels unnoticed — lord, do I know — but it’s not. It’s NOT unnoticed. Because the people you’re doing all this for feel your love. Of course they’re not, like, thanking you for it, and no, they’re probably not realizing it, either, and I know that’s garbage! I know that sucks, I know that might be the thing that finally sends you right the fuck over.

But it matters. All the things you do. All your effort. All the work you put in. The 25-hour days (not a typo) when you are not only you, as a person, but all the other things you are on top of that. To call that “unmanageable” is a laughable understatement. Go ahead, laugh out loud at how wrong that word is, how much it leaves out, how it fails to encompass your experience and your feelings about your experience — I’ll wait.

And if your laugh turned into tears, come sit by me. And trust that I see you. And trust that I know — I KNOW — in my bones, to my soul, how heavy it all is, how impossible it all feels, how some days you have no idea, really no clue, how you’re going to get up tomorrow and do it all over again.

You’re not alone. You’re so unbelievably far from alone.

And it does matter, but I understand how that’s not enough sometimes.

So maybe we can reframe it, just for a second — not much longer, not even a whole 10 minutes if you don’t have that to spare — as you doing your best, and all that energy being invested.

Who knows where — I do not have those answers, weighted as I am by my own life — but it’s not imaginary, it’s not illusory, it’s not wasted, and it’s not worthless.

It’s going into the people and things you love, the work you do, the reason you are on this earth right here, right now.

It’s going into the ether, into the Universe, into the wheel of life.

It’s going into your karma, into the great machine of what-goes-around-comes-around, into the avoidance of someone’s future schadenfreude toward you.

It’s going into the hearts and minds and bodies and souls of everyone around you, even the clerk at Kwik Trip, even the IT person on the other end of the chat when your internet is down, even the people you (still) hate-follow despite (still) knowing that hate-following anyone hurts you more than helps.

It’s going into you, even when it doesn’t feel like it’s about you and that nothing has been about you, goddammit, for awhile.

I do not need to tell you about These Times — all we ever say anymore are things about These Times. I will tell you, instead, that the mere fact, the mere act, of doing your best now constitutes doing an incredible job. There is nothing else you need to be doing except exactly this, exactly what you can do. Whatever it is, as long as you’re not giving up, as long as you’re trying — that’s amazing.

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Dress-Up Day by Blanca Gómez (2022)

🧒 Preschool–Early Reader (3–6)

After missing her class costume party, an unnamed little girl decides to wear her homemade rabbit costume to school anyway, and immediately wishes she could undo this decision when she realizes she’s the only one dressed up.

And then another child shows up as a carrot, and everything changes. Everyone wants in. I won’t spoil the quiet, wonderful ending except to say: a game begins.

Gómez’s signature expressive collage and digital illustrations so accurately capture feelings all too familiar to anyone who has ever taken a risk — melting in embarrassment and regret, but also, if you’re lucky, the relief of being met with kindness. This is a lovely title for talking about confidence, friendship, and how being yourself can open the door to unexpected joy (or an awesome costume, which is always worth the risk for the fun of wearing; take it from me!)

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One Naked Baby: Counting to Ten and Back Again by Maggie Smith (2007)

🍼 Babies & Toddlers (0–3)

ONE naked baby,
TWO fat cats,
THREE laundry baskets,
FOUR silly hats!

Like all good counting books, this one has a wonderfully relentless forward rhythm (iambic pentameter begins with board books, people!) that is a pure delight to read aloud as you take your little readers up to ten and then back down again through a parade of wriggly silliness that sneaks in early math learning on the sly.

Couple that with the bright, bold watercolor illustrations — including a tiny naked butt, which in my experience never fails to delight — and you have read-aloud gold for the toddler set. This is a cheerful book you’ll probably be asked to read again and again (and again, and you should!)

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Animals Nobody Loves by Seymour Simon (2001)

🧒 Preschool–Early Reader (3–6)
📖 Independent Readers (6–9)

This review first appeared in issue No. 121

This is unlikely to be a book you sit down and read with your kiddo cover to cover — I mean, you could, but it would be a long commitment. As such, my children and I read a page or two at bedtime when we first picked it up, and we (all three of us) looked forward to it every night.

This straightforward nonfiction title covers exactly what it says it does: animals nobody loves. Simon, a master in this field, profiles 20 of them — from sharks, vultures, skunks, and bats (let the record show that I, for one, deeply love bats) to hyenas, gila monsters, coyotes, and piranhas — filling a page each with basic but fascinating facts that are sure to capture most kids, preschool to late elementary, interested in animals or the natural world.

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Lady Lollipop by Dick King-Smith (2000)

🧒 Preschool–Early Reader (3–6)
📖 Independent Readers (6–9)

This review first appeared in issue No. 7 — I’ve edited and updated it here

Dick King-Smith — probably best known for Babe: The Gallant Pig, which I’ve mentioned before, is also a great read — was an extraordinarily prolific author. He cranked out an unbelievable two to eight books PER YEAR from 1978-2007, and an overwhelming theme of his work was animals, particularly pigs.

So it will not come as a surprise when I reveal that Lady Lollipop is a highly enjoyable tale about a spoiled princess who wants to keep a pet pig. Her royal parents, whose personalities and weaknesses (or not) when it comes to their daughter are hilarious, hire a humble stable boy to not only palace-train the pig, but also train the princess. Hijinks ensue.

Because this book is such an entertaining romp — but also because Barton’s wonderful line-drawn illustrations appear on almost every other page — this is a fantastic beginning chapter book for read-alouds, and an excellent introduction to King-Smith’s work… about pigs and otherwise.

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This is Not a Small Voice: Poems by Black Poets, selected by Traci N. Todd, illustrated by Jade Orlando (2025)

📚 Middle Grade (9–12)
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Read-Aloud (all ages)

I received a copy of this book from Nosy Crow — all opinions are my own

I highly recommend this powerful, inviting poetry collection celebrating the breadth and brilliance of Black voices past and present for every classroom, homeschool, or home library. Here Todd has beautifully curated a deep, rich selection of poems by authors old and new, well-known and much-lesser known, that celebrate Black culture and connection, movement and migration, power and protest, and beyond.

This book has incredible range — big lives, big experiences, big ideas, big feelings (joy, sorrow, love, grief) right alongside the more mundane everyday — but it’s surprisingly readable, thanks in no small part to Orlando’s colorful, expressive digital illustrations. There are poems to read preschoolers and poems to read high schoolers, and that’s no small achievement.

This gem is one to keep within reach for shared reading, for conversation, and for reminding kids that their voices matter.

For Poets by Al Young

Stay beautiful
but don’t stay down underground too long
Don’t turn into a mole
or a worm
or a root
or a stone

Come on out into the sunlight
Breathe in trees
Knock out mountains
Commune with snakes
& be the very hero of birds

Don’t forget to poke your head up
& blink
think
Walk all around
Swim upstream

Don’t forget to fly

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Thanks for reading today.

Don’t give up.

Sarah