Skyscraper Babies

by April Pulley Sayre, Jeff Sayre, Juliet Menéndez (Illustrator)

Overview

Skyscraper babies grow up, up high. Close to their families. Close to the sky.

This perfectly poetic story is an ode to family and nature in the big city. Squirrels and humans alike rush to get from place to place, all returning to their nooks and nests at the end of the day atop skyscrapers, amidst the stars. This gentle text is sure to lull little ones to sleep as well as instill the importance of coexisting with the natural world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250139771
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	09/26/2023
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

April Pulley Sayre loved to write about the natural world. She is the award-winning author of more than fifty books for young readers, including Woodpecker Wham! and Eat Like a Bear.

Jeff Sayre is an ecologist, entrepreneur, and author with a passion for conservation and natural history. He and April have collaborated on twelve books together, all oriented around their shared love for nature and ecology.

Juliet Menéndez is a Guatemalan American author and illustrator living between Guatemala City, Paris, and New York. While working as a bilingual teacher in New York City’s public schools, Juliet noted the need for more books that depicted children like the ones in her classrooms. She studied design and illustration in Paris and now spends her days with her watercolors and notebook. Latinitas is her first children's book.

Editorial Reviews

2023-06-08
Living up high, oh, my!

Some human, animal, and avian babies live elevated lives, i.e., in or atop skyscrapers, trees, buildings (or their ledges), cliff edges, or mountaintops. Their homes look different and may be old or new, but “skyscraper babies” and families enjoy commanding views from lofty perches “close to the sky.” Wherever these babies live, they do what other babies do—rest, cry, and play—while solicitous caretakers tend them. They grow and explore, occasionally descending from above; then ever watchful adults welcome them home. While the comparisons between these various babies are sound and at times quite charming, kids may get confused, recognizing families don’t have to be elevated to behave as described; furthermore, the illustrations don’t consistently depict them dwelling aloft. The text is expressed in gentle verse and is aurally gratifying with playful alliterative, consonant, and assonant sounds. Pleasing, lively, flat illustrations, rendered with watercolors and edited digitally, have an art deco feel and portray different creatures plus humans diverse in skin tone, age, and physical ability. Varied type fonts enhance visual interest; the book orients vertically, reinforcing the “up” theme. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

How fun to think about life going on above your head. (information about the late April Pulley Sayre, skyscraper birds and mammals, and helping skyscraper babies) (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews