Ten Tiny Toes

PreS—Baby toes are irresistible, and Tarpley and Brown honor them with finesse. Cut-paper and gouache collages chronicle the tootsies from diaper days and first steps to skipping and jumping. Creative vignettes, like adult fingers creating a heart shape that nestles baby's toes in the middle, showcase Brown's never-ending talent. His pigtailed baby in sunglasses, another feeding peas to the dog, even the belly button self-examiner keep the art playful. Tarpley's rhymes add to the bliss with yummy lines like, "Toes that were little/and tender and tasty,/toes more delicious than cinnamon pastry." The book ends in the future, when the baby has a child, shifting its audience but remaining sweet. "…nothing on earth/you could ever suppose/can ever be loved/quite like ten tiny toes."—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA