Before You: Great for Holiday and Christmas Reading or Gifting

by Rebecca Doughty

I was a flower with no pot
I was a polka with no dot
 
What did I do before you came along and changed the tune?
     Through simple, yet lively text and whimsical illustration, the love from parent to child, or lover to lover, or friend to friend, is celebrated. The perfect gift for baby showers, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, weddings, and beyond.  Before You  also works perfectly as a comforting and joyful read-aloud for parents to tuck their children into bed with. For fans of perennial favorites like  I Like You  and  Guess How Much I Love You.

Genres: Picture Books, Love, Childrens, Friendship, Poetry, Animals, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Rebecca is the author and illustrator of many picture books for children including You Are to Me, Some Helpful Tips for a Better World and a Happier Life, and most recently, Before You. She has also illustrated many books, including One of Those Days written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Rebecca's book illustrations have been selected several times for the Original Art Exhibition at The Society of Illustrators in New York. With deceptively simple line drawings, playful lyrical verse and waggish humor, her books speak to audiences of all ages. Rebecca lives in Massachusetts with her husband, poet Edison Dupree. Learn more about Rebecca's art and books by visiting her website: www.rebeccadoughty.com

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

BOOK TITLE: BEFORE YOU
I was a flower with no pot.
I was a polka with no dot.
I was a tail without a wag.
Just a bean without a bag.

OH, COME ON! *Carmen is exasperated* I just don't get these cutesy love books AT ALL. I don't get them at all. I can appreciate something like The Runaway Bunny, but books like this one annoy me. Books like I Wish You More just incite me to violence. I can't stand sappy, cutesy, pointless garbage.

After pages and pages of this shit, finally

Then you arrived and changed the tune!
You woke the sun.
You lit the moon.
You put the splash into the puddle.
You put the squeeze into the cuddle.

UGH. *cue Carmen gagging*

This goes on for a while, and then the book ends with

Now I'm a bird and you're my song. So tell me now...
what took you so long?

EL FIN

Tl;dr - UGH. I find this book completely unpalatable. YMMV, perhaps you go in for all this sentimental touchy-feely garbage, and that's fine. Just keep it away from me. Boring schmaltz. Pass. Hard pass.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book about how that special someone comes into your life and everything is newly magical - for adults also!

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I ever get married I'm reading this book as part of my vows. <3

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

A love story, for sure.

Sometimes I laughed.
Often I smiled.
This book's good for a grownup,
Not only a child.

[Beckie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before you, my life wasn't complete is the theme of this children's book. Adorable book about how a child, friend or lover has completed your life. Sweet comparisons and whimsical illustrations.

[Cara Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dedicate this book to my husband, Michael. xoxo

[Murat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it.

But it's not for children, it's for my future wife :)

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love this book! A staple in our bedtime routine.

[Rebecca Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! Perfect for my besties, my Mom, and my lover:-)
It's full of heartwarming messages about having someone special in your life. Consider this for someone with a good friend, someone with a young child, someone learning to read, or for a romantic interest.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doughty, Rebecca. Before You, PICTURE BOOK. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016. $14.99.

All of the basic things in life that typically go together (such as a noodle and soup, or a tub and a rubber duck), are listed to explain the different partnerships that we make with others. It helps to describe how necessary someone can be and how our world brightens when we finally meet these companions.

This is a really simple, sweet book about how important the loved ones in our lives are. This would be a good gift book for someone you love.

PRE-K, EL (K-3)- ADVISABLE. Reviewed by Shay, School Librarian
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2017...

[Carol Mccoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a sweet book! I literally hugged it after I read it and didn't want to give it up. It would be a perfect Valentine's Day present for young and old. Some of the lines go like this: Before you... I was a flower without a pot. I was a polka without the dot. ... I was a sky without the blue. I was a ME without YOU. ... Then you arrived and changed the tune! You woke the sun. You lit the moon."

There are so many cute examples of who "I" was before "you" and who "I" am now after "you."

I am definitely going to go look up some other of her books to see if they are just as sentimental (that's me).

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED LOVED LOVED the writing in this book. It's a 'what I was before you came along' sort of sentimental writing. Like "I was a flower with no pot" and I was "a tub without a rubber duck". Super sweet.

My only slight issue with the book is the illustrations. They're almost too simplistic and stick-like and I feel like they take away from the writing. I think it's possible some people may not give this book a chance if they look first at the illustrations which makes me sad, since the writing is so spectacular.

[Alexandria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit that I would have liked this book a lot more as a picture book between partners than I liked it as a book from a parent to a child. There's a fine line between letting your child know that you love them and putting this much emphasis on the idea that you were incomplete before having children. The rhymes are simply and easy to read and the illustrations are absolutely sweet as sugar. But I wouldn't want to give my son the impression that I had him so I could feel complete or that my life revolves around him because that is unhealthy for both mother and baby.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED it! What a sweet book that is perfect as a read aloud with short text, fun rhymes, and illustrations that are funny and whimsical. I'm planning on buying a copy for Caleb's bookshelf. I loved it so much that I even posted it on my personal Instagram and featured it on my library's Instagram too. I loved reading it to Caleb and delivering the message that life became much sweeter when he came around. :)

[Lacey Louwagie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really sweet book about the love and feeling of completeness a special someone can bring to your life, whether a child, lover, or friend. I love that cats were generously represented in the illustrations, too! Only awarding four stars, though, due to my general discomfort with the idea that anyone is ever "incomplete" without someone else, no matter how adorably that idea is executed.

[Ashley Biles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doughty, R. (2016) Before you. Boston, Massachusetts: HMH Books for Young Readers

This was a beautiful love story about how before meeting someone your days are very different. They can be lonely, but when someone comes into your life that makes your days better you can understand the world around you better. And they complete you.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

- Super adorable story about companionship
- Ink and flashe paint used for illustrations
- Simple text

I loved this book because although it was super simplistic and maybe designed for a younger audience, I still thought the main point that people work better together and recognizing the importance of companionship was powerful.

[Juliana Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things that go together: flower/pot, polka/dot, bean/bag, me/you. Author imagines what life was like before the reader came along. The relationship between the author/reader might be a parent/child or two friends. Open ended.

[Marybeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a tail without a wag.
Just a bean without a bag.
What a sweet book! How a child, friend, or significant other completes your life. Loved the message that life is so much better with YOU! (I was a ME without a YOU.) Sweet message, simple rhyming text, and fun illustrations.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute to give to ANYONE that you love!

[Donna Mork · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book about, before you, I was one thing without another (a cone without ice cream, a polka without a dot.) Sweet. What took you so long?

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pardon me while I go overboard on my analysis of a children’s picture book…
Cute book that you would read to a child. The book has cute little illustrated statements to indicate that you were incomplete before your child came along, like I was a flower without a pot. I have mixed feelings about that concept. I 100% want to be a separate person outside of my children, like my identity is not wholly as a mother though it absolutely contributes to who I become. As a mother who experienced infertility I know that I sometimes felt like I was incomplete until my children joined our family. But as I read this to my toddler, I also thought that it’s probably not a bad thing to say to a child either, that you are a different more wholehearted person because they are in your life. Makes them feel special. I’ll just also back that up by having a clear personality and calendar beyond also being a mother.

[Adrianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Before You" is a beautiful book which discusses how a mother bird felt before her baby bird was born. Throughout the book, the author used rhyme to tell the story. Rebecca Doughty wrote, "I was a polka with no dot. I was a tail without a wag." The colors of the illustrations in the second half of the book changed and included a wider variety. The author wrote, "Then you arrived and changed the tune! You woke the sun. You lit the moon...You put the cozy in the nook. You put the story in the book." This was a cute and endearing book. I really enjoyed the rhyme that was included.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the idea is fine, I feel like this is geared for adults not kids. What toddler, or even older child would understand

I was a polka with no dot,
A birthday cake without a wish,

these type of correlations? A few, I'm sure they would understand, but not too many. So again, while I feel adults will like it, it didn't feel much like a book for kids. it felt more like something Hallmark would create.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful love story of a book. First half is about all that is missing in the narrator's life, second half tells how life changed after the person's "you" appeared and made everything right. It really feels like a book about romantic love, but it's innocent and sweet enough to be a parent's longing for a child who comes and completes a family.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet. May have to get this for the kids. The illustrations aren't my favorite and the rhymes are a bit clunky at times (but hey, she used the word "pop" for soda, so I'm loving that).

Totally no pressure with that last rhyme, eh? Haha.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was leery of this at first because I thought it was going to be one of those schmaltzy kids books about how much parents love their kids that invariably make me ugly cry. Instead this one is lighter and more fun with goofy rhymes and uniquely naive artwork. More fun than sentimental.

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very cute message, I didn't like the illustrations. Book is too small for storytime.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very sweet. Better for one-on-one sharing.

[talia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tender 💝 I love how everything has a face. I was a bean without a bag