Title: Baby Goes to Market
Author: Atinuke
Illustrator: Angela Brooksbank
Publisher: Walker Books
Genre: Children’s picture book
Book format: Paperback
Sweet Strawberries: Sweet StrawberrySweet StrawberrySweet StrawberrySweet StrawberrySweet Strawberry

Description: Market is very crowded.  Mama is busy shopping.  Baby is busy, too!  Can you count all the tasty treats Baby collects and eats along the way?

*Free copy provided by publisher for review…

Review: This is a very fun and colourful book. ‘Baby Goes to Market’ is around A4ish in size, although more square in shape and is a very colourful book filled with thick glossy pages. The story follows Baby who is on Mama’s back while she visits the market. Baby is very expressive and lots of the sellers like Baby and give Baby different items to put in Mama’s basket, but Baby doesn’t put everything straight into Mama’s basket on her head, he eats a piece of everything first.

Baby Goes to Market book page image one
©The Strawberry Post

 

At the start of the book, on the first page before the story it’s explained that this book is inspired and takes place in the West African markets. The story is very funny with a repetitive rhythm to keep kids enjoying it. Baby is given six bananas but eats one, then is give n five of another food, four of another, etc. It’s a great book for counting down the numbers as well as just fun to read. The whole story is very simple but a very satisfying read with a funny ending.

The illustrations are just perfect. Each page or double page has an illustration on it, with easy to read and quite large text too. Each image is so vibrant and colourful and really capture the markets of West Africa well. There are so many things happening in each illustration, so many things to see in the background and the whole style of the pictures is just one I really love. The characters are all so expressive, I love Baby’s face and the cheeky smile he has at the end, I just can’t help but re-read this book over and over as the story is so fun and the there’s so much to look at each time I see the pictures.

Baby Goes to Market book page image two
©The Strawberry Post

 

I’d really recommend this book. It’s a very fun book, a funny ending and it also has a little counting and a good rhythm to the words which make the book easy to read for kids and I know I would have loved this book as a child.

Do you like this book?  What about other stories set in Africa?  Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂

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