Mem Fox’s ode to babies is a perfect lap book or toddler read-aloud. The rhyme is simple, repetitive, and alluring. Each stanza opens by explaining where the first—then the other—baby was born, or how they were wrapped (in eiderdown). These lines vary slightly from baby to baby, but the refrain is constant: “and both of these babies, as everyone knows, had ten little fingers / and ten little toes” (n.p.). The multistanza rhyme ends with Mom kissing her baby’s nose. Helen Oxenbury’s tots are cuddly, captivating, diverse, and oh-so-willing to show off their “ten little fingers / and ten little toes” (n.p.). In 1984, Mem Fox was awarded the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize for young people’s literature. In 1993 she was named a Mem ber of the Order of Australia for “services to children’s literature.” She also received the 1990 Dromkeen Medal, the 1994 COOL Award, and the 2001 Centenary Medal—to name a few! Helen Oxenbury is the recipient of three Kate Greenaway Medals and three Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes. lmp