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Love Song for a Baby
Come hear a song about a baby,
a very special baby.
Come hear a song about you.
This affectionate tribute to the all-encompassing love of a child will touch parents' and grandparents' hearts at the same time that it satisfies children's requests to tell them about when they were little. Best-selling author Marion Dane Bauer's lyrical text and award-winning illustrator Dan Andreasen's timeless paintings combine to create a gift of love -- for parent and child alike.
And oh,
how we love you!
a very special baby.
Come hear a song about you.
This affectionate tribute to the all-encompassing love of a child will touch parents' and grandparents' hearts at the same time that it satisfies children's requests to tell them about when they were little. Best-selling author Marion Dane Bauer's lyrical text and award-winning illustrator Dan Andreasen's timeless paintings combine to create a gift of love -- for parent and child alike.
And oh,
how we love you!
32 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2002
About the author
Marion Dane Bauer
180 books186 followersMarion Dane Bauer is the author of more than one hundred books for young people, ranging from novelty and picture books through early readers, both fiction and nonfiction, books on writing, and middle-grade and young-adult novels. She has won numerous awards, including several Minnesota Book Awards, a Jane Addams Peace Association Award for RAIN OF FIRE, an American Library Association Newbery Honor Award for ON MY HONOR, a number of state children's choice awards and the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota for the body of her work.
She is also the editor of and a contributor to the ground-breaking collection of gay and lesbian short stories, Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence.
Marion was one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing guide, the American Library Association Notable WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION, is used by writers of all ages. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
She has six grandchildren and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her partner and a cavalier King Charles spaniel, Dawn.
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INTERVIEW WITH MARION DANE BAUER
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Q. What brought you to a career as a writer?
A. I seem to have been born with my head full of stories. For almost as far back as I can remember, I used most of my unoccupied moments--even in school when I was supposed to be doing other "more important" things--to make up stories in my head. I sometimes got a notation on my report card that said, "Marion dreams." It was not a compliment. But while the stories I wove occupied my mind in a very satisfying way, they were so complex that I never thought of trying to write them down. I wouldn't have known where to begin. So though I did all kinds of writing through my teen and early adult years--letters, journals, essays, poetry--I didn't begin to gather the craft I needed to write stories until I was in my early thirties. That was also when my last excuse for not taking the time to sit down to do the writing I'd so long wanted to do started first grade.
Q. And why write for young people?
A. Because I get my creative energy in examining young lives, young issues. Most people, when they enter adulthood, leave childhood behind, by which I mean that they forget most of what they know about themselves as children. Of course, the ghosts of childhood still inhabit them, but they deal with them in other forms--problems with parental authority turn into problems with bosses, for instance--and don't keep reaching back to the original source to try to fix it, to make everything come out differently than it did the first time. Most children's writers, I suspect, are fixers. We return, again and again, usually under the cover of made-up characters, to work things through. I don't know that our childhoods are necessarily more painful than most. Every childhood has pain it, because life has pain in it at every stage. The difference is that we are compelled to keep returning to the source.
Q. You write for a wide range of ages. Do you write from a different place in writing for preschoolers than for young adolescents?
A. In a picture book or board book, I'm always writing from the womb of the family, a place that--while it might be intruded upon by fears, for instance--is still, ultimately, safe and nurturing. That's what my own early childhood was like, so it's easy for me to return to those feelings and to recreate them.
When I write for older readers, I'm writing from a very different experience. My early adolescence, especially, was a time of deep alienation, mostly from my peers but in some ways from my family as well. And so I write my older stories out of that pain, that longing for connection. A story has to have a problem at its core. No struggle
She is also the editor of and a contributor to the ground-breaking collection of gay and lesbian short stories, Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence.
Marion was one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing guide, the American Library Association Notable WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION, is used by writers of all ages. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
She has six grandchildren and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her partner and a cavalier King Charles spaniel, Dawn.
-------------------------------------
INTERVIEW WITH MARION DANE BAUER
-------------------------------------
Q. What brought you to a career as a writer?
A. I seem to have been born with my head full of stories. For almost as far back as I can remember, I used most of my unoccupied moments--even in school when I was supposed to be doing other "more important" things--to make up stories in my head. I sometimes got a notation on my report card that said, "Marion dreams." It was not a compliment. But while the stories I wove occupied my mind in a very satisfying way, they were so complex that I never thought of trying to write them down. I wouldn't have known where to begin. So though I did all kinds of writing through my teen and early adult years--letters, journals, essays, poetry--I didn't begin to gather the craft I needed to write stories until I was in my early thirties. That was also when my last excuse for not taking the time to sit down to do the writing I'd so long wanted to do started first grade.
Q. And why write for young people?
A. Because I get my creative energy in examining young lives, young issues. Most people, when they enter adulthood, leave childhood behind, by which I mean that they forget most of what they know about themselves as children. Of course, the ghosts of childhood still inhabit them, but they deal with them in other forms--problems with parental authority turn into problems with bosses, for instance--and don't keep reaching back to the original source to try to fix it, to make everything come out differently than it did the first time. Most children's writers, I suspect, are fixers. We return, again and again, usually under the cover of made-up characters, to work things through. I don't know that our childhoods are necessarily more painful than most. Every childhood has pain it, because life has pain in it at every stage. The difference is that we are compelled to keep returning to the source.
Q. You write for a wide range of ages. Do you write from a different place in writing for preschoolers than for young adolescents?
A. In a picture book or board book, I'm always writing from the womb of the family, a place that--while it might be intruded upon by fears, for instance--is still, ultimately, safe and nurturing. That's what my own early childhood was like, so it's easy for me to return to those feelings and to recreate them.
When I write for older readers, I'm writing from a very different experience. My early adolescence, especially, was a time of deep alienation, mostly from my peers but in some ways from my family as well. And so I write my older stories out of that pain, that longing for connection. A story has to have a problem at its core. No struggle
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
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October 12, 2019Read this for a special occasion. Really adorable.
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January 14, 2023I read this when I was kind of sleepy so I don't remember it much. I know it's really special, though. My brother and sister had this book when they were babies like me, but they had the big picture book. My mom said we don't have that anymore so she got me the board book. I know she will read it to me again lots of times because she says it's really sweet and always brings tears to her eyes. 👶
November 6, 2019
My very own personal opinion is that this is written for mushy adults. I did not hear the 'song' in it, and I can't imagine any child I know sitting still for this non-story.
May 24, 2023
Very twee and for adults, not for little ones. This book was too much for my taste. For those of you out there who love these mushy types of books, please enjoy them.
P.S. We do need to remember those who are not blessed to have babies who are born with perfect everything; I would like to see more baby books with diversity and celebrating babies of all types. Babies are wonderful and beautiful just the way they are. They deserve to be celebrated for the miracle of life that they bring.
P.S. We do need to remember those who are not blessed to have babies who are born with perfect everything; I would like to see more baby books with diversity and celebrating babies of all types. Babies are wonderful and beautiful just the way they are. They deserve to be celebrated for the miracle of life that they bring.
March 29, 2018
Lovely illustrations and heart-tugging lyrics. Great for a shower or newborn gift.
August 8, 2018
A little too flowery for me, but would be good to read to an older sibling before a new baby joins the family.
October 30, 2018
A book about how parents love everything about their baby.
March 2, 2020
Beautiful illustrations, but no cadence or “song-like” quality at all. The text falls flat.
May 22, 2021
This is a favorite from long ago. ❤
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September 29, 2022Beautiful book about love for a baby.
January 12, 2024
Intro to poetry.
February 9, 2012
I actually really liked this story about how much a baby is loved by her parents and all of the reasons why. I gave it three stars though because while i found the pictures and colors to be really pretty/soothing- I think little ones prefer bright and shiny. Also while the wording was really beautiful - ( and I read it , I couldn't bring myself to sing) Its a little long and wordy and my daughter was ready to move on pretty quickly. Probably a good lights out/ bedtime story though.
January 27, 2009
This is such a cute children's book. It's well written and the pictures are so beautiful! I borrowed this book from church but I wouldn't mind owning it one day. Here's a portion of the story:
"Before the first stars blazed in your sky,
before the sun ever kissed you,
before you cried your first cry,
we loved you."
I recommend everyone read it!
"Before the first stars blazed in your sky,
before the sun ever kissed you,
before you cried your first cry,
we loved you."
I recommend everyone read it!
October 2, 2012
Not a song at all, at least as far as I can tell, but still a very sweet book. It's all about "I love yous" for your baby. And it's a board book, so I don't have to worry about my baby tearing the pages.
May 9, 2013
I read this book to my 20 month old grand-daughter today. It has wonderful illustrations which perfectly suited her current interest in naming body parts. It was also a lovely way to reiforce just how loved she is.
August 7, 2008
This is a new favorite! Parents telling their baby much they love him/her. Makes me cry at the end!!!
March 24, 2010
A- illustrations and a B text.
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November 7, 2010This story is a book about feelings that parents feel towards their unborn child. They write their story in a song.Great book.
January 31, 2012
It's way too sweet for my taste.
July 16, 2014
This is such a sweet and tender tale that my boys beg me to read over and over again! The illustrations are so vintage and lovely!
November 10, 2015
If you like super-sweet books, you would love this book. If super-sweet books kind of make you gag a little, you might want to give this one a miss.
July 19, 2016
Welcoming a baby into the fold of the family!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews