Baby Squeaks - Anne Hunter - ★★

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AUTHOR: Anne Hunter
GENRE: Children's Picture Book.
PUBLICATION DATE: May 31, 2022
RATING: 2 stars.

This could have been so good! But it fails to deliver.

Mamma Mouse is very happy to have a baby. When she hears her baby’s first words, she is excited. But soon she realises that her baby simply doesn’t shut up and keeps squeaking all day long. In hope of getting some peace and quiet, she sends him out of the house to be with his other animal friends. Baby Mouse babbles and squeaks with every single one of them until they either run away or fall asleep. At the end, Mamma Mouse finds the house too quiet and goes in search of Baby to get him back.

Every parent will be able to identify with Mamma Mouse and how, at times, the constant chatter of our little ones can get on our nerves. However, instead of making optimum use of this comical paradox, the book just ends up with the bare minimum. There’s not much humour except if you make squeaky noises while reading the book aloud to your child. There’s no message or moral at all. In fact, parents will find it a tad more humorous than kids as the latter simply wont understand why Mamma Mouse was so irritated.

The text is quite basic and easy to understand. The illustrations are good enough but not mind-blowing.

I feel like there was so much potential wasted in this book. It was overly simplified. The end was especially disappointing – doesn’t Mamma Mouse want to speak a single word with her Baby even when he wasn’t home all day??? Basically, other than the potential squeaks you can indulge in with your little one while reading this, I didn’t find much else that would make me recommend this book.

My thanks to Penguin Random House Canada, Tundra Books, and NetGalley for the ARC of “Baby Squeaks”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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