Monday, July 21, 2008

On The Day You Were Born - Debra Frasier

Title: On the Day You Were Born
Author: Debra Frasier
Year: 1991
Country: USA
Rating: 5 out of 5

First sentence: On the eve of your birth word of your coming passed from animal to animal.

I love this book. Love, love, love it. It is currently one of my favorite picture books. It comes in a few different versions, including a board book, but we bought the picture book that comes with a CD. It is a story of celebration of the birth of your child, and is told in a wonderful, lyrical way. Reading this book to a child tells them they are a blessing--without any religous undertones--incorporating their birth into the natural world in a way that would make any child feel special.
"On the day you were born the Moon pulled on the ocean below, and, wave by wave, a rising tide washed the beaches clean for your footprints..."
The illustrations, also done by the author, are simple and breathtaking, a perfect fit for the nature-oriented tone of the story. The CD is a must have. I thought it would only contain an audio version of the story. In addition to that--which is wonderfully narrated and set to music. In addition, there are a few more tracks of songs which are a delight to listen to. This would make a wonderful gift for any new mother.
"On the day you were born the Earth turned, the Moon pulled, the Sun flared, and, then, with a push, you slipped out of the dark quiet where suddenly you could hear...a circle of people singing with voices familiar and clear."

6 comments:

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

Thank you so much for the book review, will have to track down a copy and read it soon.
Best to you and yours, here from ILCW.

Anonymous said...

This book sounds lovely! Thanks for visiting my site too:) From ILCW Tracy

LisaS said...

i'll have to check that out. thanks!

happy ILCW!

tripmom827 said...

Here from ICLW. The book sounds amazing. One I would love to share with all of my kids.

Anonymous said...

We have this book. My 13 mo is not really old enough to have the attention span for it yet -- he gets squirmy pretty quickly when I try to read it to him. But I love it so much, and I swear, I cry every single time I read it. I'm tearing up even thinking about reading it. It's just so beautiful and reminds me of my son's birth. I enthusiastically second the recommendation.

Nyssaneala said...

martha - Thanks for coming by!

tracy and lisas - It truly is a gem.

tripmom - I think it will make such a lovely family tradition to read it on a child's birthday. I hope my daughter Maya thinks so too when she is older.

star - Maya doesn't quite have the attention span yet, either (she's 8 mo.), but she likes the illustrations, and loves listening to the CD In the car!