Starred Review ALA Booklist (Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2008)

Starred Review A standout for its beautiful simplicity, this picture-book collaboration between Fox and Oxenbury aims a message of diversity and tolerance at very young children. The first lines set up the text's repetition and rhythm: "There was one little baby who was born far away. And another who was born on the very next day. And both of these babies, as everyone knows, had ten little fingers and ten little toes." The subsequent spreads follow the same theme in similarly bouncing, rhyming lines: babies around the world may be different (one baby is born near ice, another in a desert tent), but the refrain of each baby's 10 fingers and toes reminds us of what we all share. Oxenbury's spare pencil-and-watercolor pictures, set against pure white pages, zero in on pudgy little hands and feet, offering many interactive opportunities for young viewers to point and count. Clusters of adorable multicultural babies from around the world toddle across the pages until just one child receives three kisses on the nose from her loving mom, a sweet gesture that parents will want to act out with their own children. A gentle, joyous offering.

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

Put two titans of kids' books together for the first time, and what do you get (besides the urge to shout, “What took you so long?”)? The answer: an instant classic. Fox's (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Time for Bed) text works off the simplest premise: babies around the world, even those who seem like polar opposites, have the same 20 digits in common. But there's real magic at work here. Given their perfect cadences, the rhymes feel as if they always existed in our collective consciousness and were simply waiting to be written down: “There was one little baby who was born far away./ And another who was born on the very next day./ And both of these babies, as everyone knows/ had ten little fingers and ten little toes.” Oxenbury (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">We're Going on a Bear Hunt) once again makes multiculturalism feel utterly natural and chummy. As her global brood of toddlers grows—she introduces two cast members with every new stanza—readers can savor each addition both as beguiling individualist and giggly, bouncy co-conspirator. Ages 3–5. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Oct.)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2008)

PreS "There was one little baby/who was born far away./And another who was born/on the very next day./And both of these babies,/as everyone knows,/had ten little fingers/and ten little toes." So opens this nearly perfect picture book. Fox's simple text lists a variety of pairs of babies, all with the refrain listing the requisite number of digits, and finally ending with the narrator's baby, who is "truly divine" and has fingers, toes, "and three little kisses/on the tip of its nose." Oxenbury's signature multicultural babies people the pages, gathering together and increasing by twos as each pair is introduced. They are distinctive in dress and personality and appear on primarily white backgrounds. The single misstep appears in the picture of the baby who was "born on the ice." The child, who looks to be from Northern Asia or perhaps an Inuit, stands next to a penguin. However, this minor jarring placement does not detract enough from the otherwise ideal marriage of text and artwork to prevent the book from being a first purchase. Whether shared one-on-one or in storytimes, where the large trim size and big, clear images will carry perfectly, this selection is sure to be a hit. Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT

Horn Book (Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

With each repetition of the text's refrain, two babies join a multiethnic playgroup, reinforcing their commonalities: "And both of these babies, / as everyone knows, / had ten little fingers / and ten little toes." Fox's lilting verse just has to be read aloud, and Oxenbury's spacious illustrations, featuring her irresistible round-headed tots, will engage even the youngest listeners.

Kirkus Reviews

A pleasing poem that celebrates babies around the world. Whether from a remote village or an urban dwelling, a tent or the snow, Fox notes that each "of these babies, / as everyone knows, / had ten little fingers / and ten little toes." Repeated in each stanza, the verse establishes an easy rhythm. Oxenbury's charming illustrations depict infants from a variety of ethnicities wearing clothing that invokes a sense of place. Her pencil drawings, with clean watercolor washes laid in, are sweetly similar to those in her early board books ( Clap Hands , 1987, etc.). Each stanza introduces a new pair of babies, and the illustrations cleverly incorporate the children from the previous stanzas onto one page, allowing readers to count not only fingers and toes but also babies. The last stanza switches its focus from two children to one "sweet little child," and reveals the narrator as that baby's mother. Little readers will take to the repetition and counting, while parents will be moved by the last spread: a sweet depiction of mother and baby. (Picture book. 3-5)