Teach Face Features with New Picture Book
Messy Face Uses Humor and Color to Engage Toddlers
Title: Messy Face by Elizabeth Caunter, illustrated by E. Caunter and Amanda Caristo. ISBN 9780981045016, 24 pps., $10.95.
Messy Face is a 24-page book for babies and toddlers featuring a smiling, happy baby, one would assume the author's child, with a variety of baby foods painted on different parts of her face. The photography is clear and the images are simple. Small children are readily attracted to the human face, in fact, studies show it's the first configuration humans recognize. Watch small children carefully and you'll see they smile at designs that even just resemble a person's face.
So the premise of this book - repetition of baby features is spot on. The small changes to each page - cereal on lips, changing to peaches on cheeks, and so forth, keeps the young book enthusiast interested. If the adult reader uses a belittling tone intertwined with a chuckle or two, baby might enjoy this book for a fair stretch of quiet time.
Bright Colours and Cheerful Text
Bright colours, cheerful text and lots of funny faces both delight babies and toddlers and teach them the parts of the face. At the same time, the cute subject and the reader's opportunity to interact with her own child keep's the reader involved, too.
There is a very good trend this year, even from the largest publishers, to bring out childrens' books illustrated with photographs. It's a good trend, giving parents a chance to introduce shildren to photography as an art and illustration form, rather than just as a family archive tool. The photos in Messy Face are clear, printed in register so they remain crisp, and softly colored.
The shooters might have considered trying to capture the baby's eye contact directly into the lens for more of a connection. However, the quality here is far beyond amateur, and the whole idea fits together well.
If there is a criticism, it might be directed at the drop-shadowed, balloony font of many colors that seems to clash with the simplicity of the rest of the concept. But that's relatively minor and should be corrected as Caunter moves on in her publishing career.
About Elizabeth Caunter
Caunter is a 28-year-old writer, editor and mother of one. Messy Face, is her first book and she has pledged "at least 20%" of the "proceeds of the sale of the book" to a charity called Project Cuddle which works to prevent abandonment of infants in Canada and the U.S. The writer/publisher/entrepreneur is a resident of West Island, Canada.
Caunter and Messy Face
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