Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born

When small children ask for the story of their birth again and again, what is often being looked for is confirmation and reassurance that they were indeed wanted and looked forward to and their arrival greeted with excitement and delight. Such stories have great significance in the firm anchoring of a young life-line.

For children adopted as babies, the inevitable distractions and breaks in continuity experienced at this early stage of growth give the demand for a birth story an even greater importance. Lee Curtis's delightful text has a small girl who has been adopted, telling the story of her birth (which she knows by heart) to her parents. It is warmly and originally done, with both the homely detail of family life ('Tell me again how you and Daddy were curled up like spoons and Daddy was snoring') and the sharpness of deep emotion ('Tell me again about the first time you held me in your arms and called me your baby sweet').

Cornell's exceptional line and wash illustrations combine humour and zest with tender expressiveness. A double page spread in this well designed and thought through picture book even shows us the new baby (actual size). Adopted or not, this title is not to be missed.