Plymouth, Minn.) – Sometimes the phrases that come out of the mouths of babes are unforgettable! Nancy Loewen, author of the new children’s book Baby Wants Mama, clearly remembers the day she got the inspiration for her latest book from her then-toddler son.

“My daughter had said something cute and I was laughing, and I guess my son wanted to top her because all of a sudden he just planted himself in front of me and blurted out, ‘Baby wants Mama, cat wants fish,’” said Loewen. “I was intrigued with those lines. I thought they had a sort of jazzy rhythm, so I played around with them and eventually they turned into this book.”

Baby Wants Mama, which she is dedicating to her son, now 18, is a beautifully illustrated story about that crazy hour right before dinner. Parents are getting home from work, the dog is getting in everyone’s way, everybody wants something and there’s a big flurry of activity. Sounds complicated, but it’s not. “Loewen captures family dinnertime excitement in just 24 clever, toe-tapping sentences,” said Karen Henry Clark, author of Sweet Moon Baby: An Adoption Tale.

Mike Huber, a Minnesota preschool teacher who has been working in early education since 1992, said, “The story is full of energy and motion which is all the more amazing when you consider there are no adjectives and only one verb in the entire book. The rhythmic text is sure to get children chanting long after the book is read to them. This joyful book reminds us that while we want many things, what we need is family."

Sandra Evans, an early childhood educator at The Children's Center, a preschool in Minnesota, said the story, "Gives young children what they want and what they need to build pre-reading skills. With frolicking repetition, children are encouraged to think about others even as they learn to recognize a small group of words by sight. Loewen's book is sure to be a favorite that gets passed on to friends and family.” 

Loewen is hoping parents across the country will consider her book a good first reader for their little ones. The book, which is being published by Amazon Children’s Publishing (formerly Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books) is set for release on May 7. Copies will be available for purchase at www.amazon.com.  For more information about this book and others Loewen has written, visit www.nancyloewen.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nancy Loewen has worked in educational publishing for many years. She has published more than 110 books for children and has received awards from the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Association of Educational Publishers and the Bank Street Children’s Book Committee. Two of her books have been finalists in the Minnesota Book Awards: Four to the Pole: The American Women’s Expedition to Antarctica (2002, co-written with polar explorer Ann Bancroft); and, more recently, the picture book The Last Day of Kindergarten (2012). She holds an MFA in creative writing from Hamline University in St. Paul.

Her latest title, Baby Wants Mama, is scheduled for release on May 7. Pre-orders are being taken at www.amazon.com.