What do you think?
Rate this book
This Is the Baby
Getting this baby dressed is not going to be easy!
This is the diaper, often a mess,
that goes on the baby who hates to be dressed.
"No! No! Nooo!"
Take one toddler who can't stand getting dressed. Add a mother who is determined to dress baby. The result is a laugh-filled struggle as this mommy uses all her ingenuity and powers of persuasion to get baby into diaper, T-shirt, sweater, and many layers of winter clothing. But just when she thinks she's succeeded, baby peels everything off and happily struts, naked once again. Yes! Yes! Yes!
Witty pictures full of affection reinforce the high spirits of this comic battle of wills so familiar to parents -- and toddlers -- everywhere.
This is the diaper, often a mess,
that goes on the baby who hates to be dressed.
"No! No! Nooo!"
Take one toddler who can't stand getting dressed. Add a mother who is determined to dress baby. The result is a laugh-filled struggle as this mommy uses all her ingenuity and powers of persuasion to get baby into diaper, T-shirt, sweater, and many layers of winter clothing. But just when she thinks she's succeeded, baby peels everything off and happily struts, naked once again. Yes! Yes! Yes!
Witty pictures full of affection reinforce the high spirits of this comic battle of wills so familiar to parents -- and toddlers -- everywhere.
- GenresPicture BooksChildrens
40 pages, Hardcover
First published August 12, 2004
About the author
Candace Fleming
74 books650 followersI have always been a storyteller. Even before I could write my name, I could tell a good tale. And I told them all the time. As a preschooler, I told my neighbors all about my three-legged cat named Spot. In kindergarten, I told my classmates about the ghost that lived in my attic. And in first grade I told my teacher, Miss Harbart, all about my family's trip to Paris, France.
I told such a good story that people always thought I was telling the truth. But I wasn't. I didn't have a three-legged cat or a ghost in my attic, and I'd certainly never been to Paris, France. I simply enjoyed telling a good story... and seeing my listener's reaction.
Sure, some people might have said I was a seven-year old fibber. But not my parents. Instead of calling my stories "fibs" they called them "imaginative." They encouraged me to put my stories down on paper. I did. And amazingly, once I began writing, I couldn't stop. I filled notebook after notebook with stories, poems, plays. I still have many of those notebooks. They're precious to me because they are a record of my writing life from elementary school on.
In second grade, I discovered a passion for language. I can still remember the day my teacher, Miss Johnson, held up a horn-shaped basket filled with papier-mache pumpkins and asked the class to repeat the word "cornucopia." I said it again and again, tasted the word on my lips. I tested it on my ears. That afternoon, I skipped all the way home from school chanting, "Cornucopia! Cornucopia!" From then on, I really began listening to words—to the sounds they made, and the way they were used, and how they made me feel. I longed to put them together in ways that were beautiful, and yet told a story.
As I grew, I continued to write stories. But I never really thought of becoming an author. Instead, I went to college where I discovered yet another passion—history. I didn't realize it then, but studying history is really just an extension of my love of stories. After all, some of the best stories are true ones — tales of heroism and villainy made more incredible by the fact they really happened.
After graduation, I got married and had children. I read to them a lot, and that's when I discovered the joy and music of children's books. I simply couldn't get enough of them. With my two sons in tow, I made endless trips to the library. I read stacks of books. I found myself begging, "Just one more, pleeeeease!" while my boys begged for lights-out and sleep. Then it struck me. Why not write children's books? It seemed the perfect way to combine all the things I loved: stories, musical language, history, and reading. I couldn't wait to get started.
But writing children's books is harder than it looks. For three years I wrote story after story. I sent them to publisher after publisher. And I received rejection letter after rejection letter. Still, I didn't give up. I kept trying until finally one of my stories was pulled from the slush pile and turned into a book. My career as a children's author had begun.
I told such a good story that people always thought I was telling the truth. But I wasn't. I didn't have a three-legged cat or a ghost in my attic, and I'd certainly never been to Paris, France. I simply enjoyed telling a good story... and seeing my listener's reaction.
Sure, some people might have said I was a seven-year old fibber. But not my parents. Instead of calling my stories "fibs" they called them "imaginative." They encouraged me to put my stories down on paper. I did. And amazingly, once I began writing, I couldn't stop. I filled notebook after notebook with stories, poems, plays. I still have many of those notebooks. They're precious to me because they are a record of my writing life from elementary school on.
In second grade, I discovered a passion for language. I can still remember the day my teacher, Miss Johnson, held up a horn-shaped basket filled with papier-mache pumpkins and asked the class to repeat the word "cornucopia." I said it again and again, tasted the word on my lips. I tested it on my ears. That afternoon, I skipped all the way home from school chanting, "Cornucopia! Cornucopia!" From then on, I really began listening to words—to the sounds they made, and the way they were used, and how they made me feel. I longed to put them together in ways that were beautiful, and yet told a story.
As I grew, I continued to write stories. But I never really thought of becoming an author. Instead, I went to college where I discovered yet another passion—history. I didn't realize it then, but studying history is really just an extension of my love of stories. After all, some of the best stories are true ones — tales of heroism and villainy made more incredible by the fact they really happened.
After graduation, I got married and had children. I read to them a lot, and that's when I discovered the joy and music of children's books. I simply couldn't get enough of them. With my two sons in tow, I made endless trips to the library. I read stacks of books. I found myself begging, "Just one more, pleeeeease!" while my boys begged for lights-out and sleep. Then it struck me. Why not write children's books? It seemed the perfect way to combine all the things I loved: stories, musical language, history, and reading. I couldn't wait to get started.
But writing children's books is harder than it looks. For three years I wrote story after story. I sent them to publisher after publisher. And I received rejection letter after rejection letter. Still, I didn't give up. I kept trying until finally one of my stories was pulled from the slush pile and turned into a book. My career as a children's author had begun.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 17, 2009
Clara is currently going through a phase where all tags are "itchy," all blue jeans are too "ouchie," and all coats are "too heavy." So logically, this book is a hit in our house! A good choice for "sensitive" two-year olds (ha ha), and I plan on using it in my "Get Bundled" storytime in December.
July 31, 2008
Darling picture book patterned after "This is the House that Jack Built." Anyone who has ever tried to dress a baby who prefers to be naked can relate to this story. Cute illustrations by Maggie Smith
July 15, 2013
This is a cute book about how hard it is to have a baby in the house. I think this can help kids relate to their home life a little of they have younger siblings who are babies. It's a cute book for K-5.
May 22, 2009
Cute. Definitely cute. The preschooler loves it, and I think that for any parents with a flasher or stripper in their midst will get a kick out of it.
July 28, 2022
Patterned after This is the House That Jack Built, this story adds on and repeats on each page. It's a fun story about a little baby who prefers to be naked over being dressed. The illustrations are absolutely marvelous! A fun group read aloud, especially if you have the kids repeating the No-no-nooo! of the little baby.
October 15, 2018
Cute story - more complex story may be too much for baby storytime.
August 9, 2023
Ok. I don't blame the baby one bit, itchy sweater, stiff jeans, too-small boots. Otoh, my first-born would strip even given the softest, most comfortable clothing.
October 17, 2023
A cumulative tale about dressing the baby who does not like to wear clothes. Wonder what occurs after baby is dressed and Mama falls asleep.
May 10, 2024
This is in the style of "The House that Jack Built." The mother keeps adding articles of clothing onto the baby who is throwing a fit the entire time. I strongly disliked the obstinance at the end.
March 1, 2014
I love this one. I do. I like true picture books. Stories that reflect every day situations and struggles, stories that look at life realistically. The book is also fun and playful. I also like picture books that are repetitive or that have refrains, making it easy for little ones to join in during the reading.
In This is the Baby, readers meet one stubborn mother and one just-as-stubborn baby. Who will win the battle?!
This one has a good twist on it, a bit predictable perhaps, but still fun! I would definitely recommend this one to parents who have little ones who like to wiggle and giggle free and undressed...
In This is the Baby, readers meet one stubborn mother and one just-as-stubborn baby. Who will win the battle?!
This one has a good twist on it, a bit predictable perhaps, but still fun! I would definitely recommend this one to parents who have little ones who like to wiggle and giggle free and undressed...
September 16, 2015
Great storytime book. Older kids laugh at it. I was worried it was a bit long for baby time but parents got into it and chorused "the baby who hates to get dressed" with me each time. Also they laughed the laugh of people WHO KNOW. This is a book that speaks to the struggle of the baby/toddler parent. It speaks our truth, our pain into the world, and we laugh so we don't cry. Or something. My toddler didn't want to get dressed this morning.
Read this twice today, once for a mixed-under-5 storytime (mostly 3 and 4 year-olds) at a longer getting dressed storytime and once at baby time. I've read it previously at many storytimes, one of my favorites.
Read this twice today, once for a mixed-under-5 storytime (mostly 3 and 4 year-olds) at a longer getting dressed storytime and once at baby time. I've read it previously at many storytimes, one of my favorites.
October 10, 2008
Cumulative tale like "This is the house that Jack Built." Children can help name the pieces of clothing. Could perhaps work as a flannel story. A little long for babies.
April 13, 2009
A cumulative tale of "the baby who hates to be dressed" being dressed before flinging off her clothes exultantly. Fun for lapsits.
Read
November 13, 2009A story about a baby that doesn't like to get dressed. It would be good for beginning readers because the story keeps building using the same words from the page before.
January 23, 2013
Cute cumulative tale about a baby who doesn't like to get dressed.
February 25, 2013
A sweet cumulative rhyme featuring a baby who does not want to get dressed, and who manages to have the last laugh after his mother has dressed him in layers from diaper to warm winter coat.
July 29, 2014
Cumulative rhyming story with rhythm similar to "The House That Jack Built"
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews