Urban Babies Wear Black by Michelle Sinclair Colman

This week we got Urban Babies Wear Black by Michelle Sinclair Colman and illustrated by Nathalie Dion from the library.  I can't decide if it is a tongue-in-cheek look at babies doing things that are stereotyped as urban (in a yuppie kind of way) or meant to be true.  The book is 18 pages long and has words on the left with a picture on the right.  It begins with the titular urban babies wear black and has the babies doing yoga, visiting art galleries, jogging (in a stroller), drinking latte, enjoying architecture, appreciating fine dining, going to the opera, and taking a taxi at the end of the day.  

I think the art is cool and very expressive, but I'm not completely happy with some of the messages.  There are many reasons children shouldn't drink coffee, and the page pictured below contradicts us when we tell our son he's too young for coffee.  

Babies shouldn't drink lattes.

When the baby is appreciating fine dining the child has his finger pointed in the air and is shouting "garçon" while being spoon-fed peas by a pair of ultra-skinny arms… it's not the way we'd want our child to treat people.  I think it speaks to my main problem with this book: I think it is targeted not at the child but at the parents.  It's like another book that was popular a few years ago called Go The F--k To Sleep, not meant for the kids' enjoyment but the parents'.  If I had a friend obsessed with living in the city and being "urban" and they just had a baby I would get them this book as a joke.  And if they used it as some kind of urban baby bible to brainwash their child into liking opera and being a snob I would be sad.

I do really enjoy the art in this book, it has a cool and distinct style.  I read that the artist, Nathalie Dion, is from Montreal, and would be interested to know if she had any particular city in mind when she created the illustrations.

The art is very cool

I do think the book is cute and somewhat humorous, but we read these books for our kids so I have to go with how they react to it.   My 10-month old isn't really that into it, nor has it captured the interest of my 2 1/2 year old.  It's a quick read and I'm not upset by its playful jest about urban babies, but I wouldn't need to purchase this book for myself (or take it out of the library again).  There are more in the series about beach babies, country babies, foodie babies, and more.  Any of them would probably make good gifts to make fun of people who want their kids to identify with those labels.

The bottom line: this book is okay.