Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Cinnamon Baby
Illustrator: Janice Nadeau
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Kids Can Press, 2011 ISBN: 978-1553378211
Miriam is a fabulous baker who makes all kinds of breads in her little bakery. Every day she ends her baking by making cinnamon bread. While she kneads the raisins into the dough, Miriam sings so that “the smell of cinnamon and the sound of her beautiful voice rose together and curled through the air.”
One day Sebastian is going past the bakery when he hears Miriam’s lovely voice. He immediately goes inside the shop and buys a loaf of cinnamon bread. After buying a loaf of the wonderful bread every day for a year, Sebastian asks Miriam to marry him.
Soon the happy couple have their first child, a baby girl with “big brown eyes and dusky skin.” At first all goes well, but then the baby starts to cry, and though they try everything they can think of, Miriam and Sebastian cannot get their daughter to stop crying. The baby is not sick, so what is upsetting her so?
In this delightful picture book, a lyrical text is paired with multimedia art to give readers a story that is unusual and a joy to read. The tale explores the special connection a baby has with her mother. Children and parents connect on many levels, and in this book we discover that babies are soothed when all their senses are engaged by things that that make them feel loved and safe.
