Mustache Baby

by Bridget Heos, Joy Ang (Illustrator)

Overview

When Baby Billy is born with a mustache, his family takes it in stride. They are reassured when he nobly saves the day in imaginary-play sessions as a cowboy or cop and his mustache looks good-guy great. But as time passes, their worst fears are confirmed when little Billy’s mustache starts to curl up at the ends in a suspiciously villainous fashion. Sure enough, “Billy’s disreputable mustache led him into a life of dreadful crime.” Plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor and cartoonish illustrations make this the perfect baby-shower gift for a mustachioed father-to-be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547773575
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/14/2013
Series:	Mustache Baby Series
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	399,798
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD380L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Bridget Heos is the author of more than 100 books for kids, including the popular Mustache Baby books and the nonfiction Just Like Us! series. She lives in Kansas City, Missouri, with her husband and four children.
authorbridgetheos.com
Twitter @bridgetheos

Joy Ang has illustrated many picture books in addition to the Mustache Baby books, including the New York Times best-selling The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid. She lives in Bellevue, Washington.  

joyang.ca
Twitter at @Joy_Ang

Editorial Reviews

Heos's offbeat tale muses on the possibilities, playing off parental hopes and panicky nightmares.

The New York Times Book Review - Pamela Paul

From mustache parties to Movember, upper lip hair is the accessory du jour, and why should babies be left out of the fun? When Billy is born with a mustache, a helpful nurse tells his folks, “You’ll just have to wait and see whether it is a good-guy mustache or a bad-guy mustache.” As Billy graduates to toddlerdom, his mustache appears to be a force for good: as a “man of the law” (complete with reflective sunglasses and badge), Billy “stopped speeders... outlawed poker... and caught thieves red-handed,” writes Heos (Stronger Than Steel). Never mind that his actions are completely annoying and disruptive to his siblings. When Billy’s mustache begins to grow and curl, it leads him into “a life of dreadful crime,” requiring jail time (or crib time, anyway) to straighten him out. Ang (I Will Not Read This Book) has a blast portraying Billy as hero, villain, and everything in between (with facial hair worthy of Tom Selleck or Snidely Whiplash, as needed); her digital illustrations have the warmth of acrylic painting, and the book’s oddball sense of humor is unflagging. Ages 4–8. Agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Winner of the 2017 Colorado Children's Book Award "Occasional badness has never been so good." —Kirkus "The book's oddball sense of humor is unflagging." —Publishers Weekly "A mustached baby will surely make audiences howl during read-alouds." —Booklist Online "You never know what you'll get in the delivery room, and something isn't quite right with this new baby. . . . Heos's offbeat tale muses on the possibilities, playing off parental hope and panicky nightmares." —New York Times Book Review "[This] book bristles with appealing humor." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "Quirky, silly fun." —School Library Journal —

From the Publisher

K-Gr 1—This nonsense picture book is about a baby who is born with a mustache. As Billy grows up, the mustache informs his various identities: cowboy, ringleader, Spanish painter, sword fighter, and man of the law. But then, it grows and curls and becomes a bad-guy mustache. Billy then becomes a cereal criminal, a bank robber, and a cat burglar, and gets thrown in jail. Fortunately, his parents are able to reassure him that everyone has a bad-mustache day. Billy becomes a good guy again and scoots off to play with his new neighbor, a little bearded guy. Digitally rendered illustrations are saturated matte cartoons. For the most part, they mirror the text, although the humor is often in the contradictions; while the narrator claims that "everyone loved having Officer Billy around," for example, his sister and brother glare at him for ruining their play. Quirky, silly fun.—Jennifer Miskec, Longwood University, Farmville, VA

School Library Journal

Outlaw or lawman…the mustache will reveal the truth! "When Baby Billy was born, his family noticed something odd: / He had a mustache." When they ask the nurse what it could mean, she answers that they'll have to wait to "see whether it turns out to be a good-guy mustache or a bad-guy mustache." At first, Billy's a cowboy, protecting his cattle (teddy bear) from attack (by the family dog) and caring for injured animals (his torn bear). Obviously a good-guy mustache! He becomes a "ringleader. A Spanish painter. A sword fighter. And finally… / A man of the law." But as he grows into toddlerhood, his mustache begins to curl at the ends and becomes a bad-guy mustache! After some cat burglary, "cereal" crime and train robbery (including the track), he's caught and thrown in jail (a barred crib). After ages, his mother busts him out, and his parents explain that everyone has "a bad-mustache day" every once in a while. Heos' simple and silly metaphorical tale of the terrible twos will definitely entertain parents and children older than Billy. Twos will, at least, giggle over every page of the digitally created, jewel-eyed, cartoon illustrations, with their mix of Saturday-morning slapstick, dramatic comic-book angles and mustachioed babies. Occasional badness has never been so good. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews