FROM DAWN TO DREAMS

Archer offers a little book of baby rhymes with a feeling of the past. It’s hard to resist “Giggles”—“Wiggle my ears / And wiggle my nose, / ’Cause wiggles make giggles— / That’s how it goes.” Dad, Mom, PapPap and big brother all make appearances as the verse, always in Baby’s voice, addresses shadows, first steps, making messes, taking a bath and other baby events. Wakiyama’s pictures, generally on ivory backgrounds, use vintage colors, Kewpie-doll faces and ’40s-inspired motifs to cheery effect. A few full-page images add texture—for instance, father and child in a lemon-yellow convertible with the seats full of groceries and flowers as they drive along an ocean-side road. Some of the rhymes have a bit of clunky awkwardness, but the whole is a pretty, old-fashioned package. (Picture book. 3-5)