Description
Baby's First Laugh is a board book published by Salina Bookshelf of Flagstaff, Arizona. This bilingual board book is set in the Southwest among the contemporary Navajo Nation. The colourful illustrations by Beverly Blacksheep show an infant in a cradleboard. The reader is told this is Baby. Next we meet her parents and family members. Each person introduced tries to make Baby laugh. But Baby finds nothing funny and simply cries when her father tickles her, mother sings to her, older sister plays with her, older brother makes faces at her, and grandfather bounces Baby on his knee. No one can make Baby laugh it seems. The final person to try is grandmother. She succeeds in making Baby laugh by reading Baby a story. The simple sentences use repetition effectively by asking which family member will make Baby laugh and repeating the question for each relative. The text is written in English and Navajo. While the publishers designed the board book to appeal to Navajo preschool and kindergarten-age children, this book will appeal to all young children. The positive images of family members and the final page stressing reading make this book an important addition to the limited Native-content board book collection.