YOU WERE LOVED BEFORE YOU WERE BORN

Bunting creates a universe of feeling using deceptively simple language. She pulls in all the family members and friends who rejoice in the coming of a new child, and does it without specifying the baby’s gender, or whether it is born to the family or adopted. The text is matched with Barbour’s beautiful illustrations—deep colors and rich pastels in patterns that recall Klimt’s luminescent florals and Chagall’s elegant lines. In the mother’s voice, the narrative recounts how people loved this child: “Before you were born, you were loved by your aunt,” who paints the moon, stars and rainbow in the child’s room. Grandparents offer the rocker that they used for the child’s mother and aunt. A cousin sorts through his own baby clothes and a neighbor makes a kite. A marvelous integration of color, image and verbal rhythm sure to delight and to become a must-purchase for newborns and their parents. (Picture book. 3-6)