WHERE DID YOU COME FROM, BABY DEAR?

Paired with new illustrations by Dyer, MacDonald’s imaginative poem reads as a Q-and-A between a wondering family and their amazing new baby.

Opening with a full-color spread of swaddled newborns of many races, the text begins with the titular query and continues, focusing on a different baby with each new question, always in full-color. Baby’s responses recount magical moments on the path through the cosmos and appear with illustrations done in heavenly blue. “What makes your cheek like a warm wild rose? / I saw something better than anyone knows.” Exhumed from the 19th century, the poem captures a theistic, if fanciful belief in a Creator. “Where did you get this pearly ear? / God spoke, and it came out to hear.” For much of the book, inquiries appear on verso with replies on the recto, creating a perfect rhythm for page turns. When the pattern changes to include question and answer on the same page, readers will need a moment to adjust, especially since the lines appear in identical font. Dyer’s chubby, cherubic, multicultural babies are almost always cheerful as they tumble, roll, and float across the page. The most satisfying page for new caregivers may be the one featuring vignettes of babies cuddled by family members.

This book may have the most appeal as a gift book for spiritually minded new parents.