Before You Were Born

By: Jennifer Davis, Laura Cornell (Illustrator)

Write A Review

Hardcover | 1 May 1998 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover
36 Pages

Age
2 - 6

Dimensions(cm)
21.59 x 20.96 x 1.91

Hardcover

$30.95

or 4 interest-free payments of $7.74 with

Aims to ship in 10 to 15 business days

It's the mystery of mysteries-what's going on inside a pregnant woman's belly? That's what Jennifer Davis's older children wanted to know while she was expecting the younger. So to explain, she wrote BEFORE YOU WERE BORN, now with 102,000 copies in print, a joyful lift-the-flap book that tells the parallel story of mother and baby during the nine months of pregnancy.

Illustrated with full-color whimsy by Laura Cornell, whose delightful work is familiar to readers of Jamie Lee Curtis's Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born and When I Was Little, BEFORE YOU WERE BORN is a month-by-month countdown written in rhyming verse.

Each page shows what's happening to the mother on the outside and then, under the flap, in the mother's belly to the baby on the inside. Children learn how Mommy is feeling and how the baby is developing, about hiccups, kicks, and umbilical cords, a first heartbeat, and the contractions that mark the beginning of labor.

For expectant mothers and curious little kids, and especially for kids with siblings on the way, it is an interactive storybook that delivers delight and information and reassurance, too.

Industry Reviews

Another look for the very young at what's going on (in loose terms) inside a mother's belly during the nine months of pregnancy. Every spread is devoted to one of the months. The left page is given over to a simple one-line countdown - e.g., "Before you were born and with 9 months to go. . ." There is also a tiny illustration tucked into a comer of this page, accompanied by a kernel of hard information, such as when the baby grows hair and nails. The opposite page has an illustration of the mother, getting bigger and clumsier and experiencing the preborn's movements. A flap lifts to reveal the baby in its home, going through its changing paces; it's a neat gimmick, and the payoff is Comell's artwork, lighthearted and comical, pretty much as far from a biology lesson as one can get (the baby is a congenial cartoon, often clothed or accessorized, who, but for its umbilical cord, could live inside or outside the womb). There is a gap between the clever design and premise, and the information given: Davis's mild rhyming text plays pregnancy mostly for laughs and reassurance; more intriguing are the factual snippets on the lefthand pages, which will have more than one listener merrily imagining the time he or she was the size of a flea, or, even better, curled up and the size of a toaster. (Kirkus Reviews)

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.