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Beyond Goodnight Moon | Moms Miami Blogs Beyond Goodnight Moon
In my never-ending quest to find books you can give at a baby shower that are NOT Goodnight Moon, I can now add Before You Were Here, Mi Amor by Samantha R. Vamos, illustrated by Santiago Cohen (Viking, $15.99, ages 2-6) This lovely, colorful book would also be perfect for a new mother, just in case you want to print out a copy of this blog post and leave it lying around whre somebody who hasn’t yet finished shopping could find it.The text is written mostly in English, with Spanish words woven in, explaining to an unborn child all the things the extended family did in anticipation of his arrival: Big hermana drew a picture of neustra familia, papi carved a mecedora from the wood of an old walnut tree (ambitious!); talented abuela painted a jungle’s worth of animals on the nursery walls, with nontoxic paint, I’m sure.) I’ve yet to meet a kid who gets tired of hearing about their own entrance into the world – which is also why I love Jamie Lee Curtis’ On the Night You Were Born – so I can see Vamos’ book leading naturally to personalization. It would even make a good classroom assignment: using Vamos’ story as a model, interview family members about how they got ready for YOU. Fun.
You can hear the book read aloud and see the illustrations by clicking here:
View the new trailer for "Before You Were Here, Mi Amor"Great to hear about this. I received four copies of Goodnight Moon when my kids were born, including one that had been "regifted," with a special note from "Nana and Papa" in the front. Whoops!
This is a great gift idea. My youngest LOVES the Jamie Lee Curtis book -- and a personalized book we got from the hospital when her sister was born. (By the time she came along, the hospital had stopped doing those). For years, I read it to her as though it was about her. I'm not sure when she caught on, but I've been looking ever since for a place I could order a personalized story about her birth. I suppose I could make one myself and have it bound at Kinko's!
I am thrilled to receive this terrific review. I want to note that my website has an Activities link (www.samanthavamos.com). In addition to a bilingual word match and word search, there are also a series of questions that a child may use to interview family members about what transpired before the child was here. My thought was that children could then create their own story by using the questions. All best, Samantha
July 2010 
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