These little feet by Hayley Rawsthorne & Briony Stewart

A wonderfully playful book for young and old, These little feet is about love and dreams for the future as the new baby takes centre stage in the family. Mum looks at her daughter’s little feet. She ponders the places they will go and the mountains they will climb, she wonders about the dreams they will have and the dances they will  do. Her little hands will greet people, feel snowflakes, write letters and play the drums. The poem goes along in this pattern asking questions that have all to do with love and parenting. Sometimes a boy sometimes a girl, the central character is always with an adult, Mum or Dad, grandparents or extended family member, showing a diversity of adults and children across age groups. And next come the ears: what may be heard by these little ears, what songs will they love and noises be feared. His mouth is looked at, with Mum pondering what treats it will eat and kisses given.

Each time one aspect of the baby’s body is looked at, a refrain begins adding several things about the future dreams of that aspect of the child’s life. The whole is alive with dreams of the child’s future life: what will be seen, felt, heard, tasted and smelled as the child grows older.

A double page of postcard like images is at the end of the book, brings the poem back to the start, kissing the little feet and wondering what love the child will find along its life’s journey.

Like Ten little fingers and ten little toes by Mem Fox, the book begs the reader and child to act out the poem as it is read.

Soft inviting illustrations accompany the text revealing constant eye contact between the child and its carer, always found doing things together. Each of the opening lines is framed with a wreath of flowers or leaves, shells balls of wool, making a contrast between the first line and the rest of each stanza.

Themes: Family, Love, Future, Dreams, Parenting.

Fran Knight