Nancy Garhan Attebury (Children's Literature)
Illustrations rendered in oil enhance this fast paced, fun-filled book for toddlers. With soft, yet vivid colors and realistic baby expressions the illustrator increases the already lively text. Repeating rhyming patterns contain just enough variation to entertain the child listener as a grownup reads this book. Fun baby antics include dumping cereal on ones head, writing on the walls, not wanting to share, eating forbidden sand, throwing a fit, and the joy of discovering a ready-for-the-wind dandelion. These realistic everyday happenings are ones with which a toddler can relate. Parents will enjoy the clock preceding each simple piece of text since it depicts the progression of a day with baby. The large print text and size of the book are also a plus. The husband and wife authors have collaborated to offer a book that cries to be read again and again to a toddler. Add this book to any preschool shelf or to the your home library in a house with young children. 2002, Simon & Schuster, $16.95. Ages 2 to 5.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2002 (Vol. 70, No. 20))
Parents and caregivers will recognize the ritualistic pleading that takes place when spending the day with a toddler. Sounding like a broken record, a mother pleads with her daughter to share her toys, eat a balanced meal, and finally go to sleep. As she plays on her mother's tummy, up way past her bedtime (the clock radio shows 3:01 a.m.) her mother pleads, "Go back to bed, baby, please, baby, please." When she dumps the contents of her breakfast, "Not on your HEAD, baby baby baby, please!" Each page features an impish grin and impossibly beautiful eyes peeking out from under a tangle of perky curls, but the angelic expression does not change the fact that this little one is all devil. A tiny clock records the time of day at the beginning of the line of text on each double-paged spread, but it's the rambunctious tot who captures all of the focus. Vivid illustrations of this African-American family full of love and patience for their strong-willed daughter will evoke laughter as the parents attempt, with mixed results, to guide their charmer's behavior. Sure enough, the closing line turns the tables as the little girl asks for a kiss, ". . . Mama, Mama, Mama, please." Richly colored and meticulously detailed paintings highlight the tiny, but determined imp with curls that literally spring from her head. The repetitive text, sunny illustrations, and entirely familiar scenarios will make this a favorite of parents and children alike. 2002, Simon & Schuster, $16.95. Category: Picture book. Ages 1 to 4. © 2002 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Vicki Arkoff (Midwest Book Review, "Vicki's Bookshelf" column, November 2002)
In their first picture book, independent filmmaker Spike Lee and his wife Tonya have given birth to a thoroughly charming and exasperated look at parenting a precocious child. One simple rhyming couplet fills each spread, illustrated with an energetic toddler getting into a series of "please baby" don't situations from throwing tantrums to putting his dirty diaper in the toy box. Each exaggerated scenario is accompanied by a small image of a clock ticking off the time of each small issue, giving a clear hour-by-hour account of a typical day in the life of a frayed parent. The story's rhyming patter and sing-song repetition of "please, baby, baby, please" is pure Spike Lee -- the catch phrase comes from Lee's first hit film "She's Gotta Have It," though it was then used imploringly to seduce the film's sexy protagonist. Considering the source, it shouldn't be surprising that -- in typical Hollywood fashion -- this book was years in the making due to the rejection of the first set of complete illustrations, and the subsequent reassignment to artist Kadir Nelson. The charming, tongue-in-cheek result is surprising satisfying for both parent and child. Altered rhythms keep it fresh and fun to read aloud, the rhymes solidly hit their mark, and the humor is sharp as a tack. Simplistic though it is, "Please Baby Please" is one of the most enjoyable celebrity picture books on the market, and surely one that best reflects the inherent style of its creator. But keep in mind that it weren't for the Spike Lee name, this would have been published as a standard board book priced under $9, if it was published at all. 2002, Simon & Schuster, 32 pages, $16.95.

Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February 2003 (Vol. 56, No. 6))
A small clockface ticks off the hours in this parental plea to an irrepressible toddler to, well, stop acting like a toddler. The opening spread sets the tone: an exhausted mother is flat on the floor, her baby girl bouncing on her tummy, the television on but unwatched, a half-empty baby bottle on the floor. A fat plastic ring is held in the gleeful toddler’s hand, and another is hooked on the collapsed mother’s big toe. The clock says 3 a.m., and the text reads “Go back to bed,/ baby, please, baby, please.” The hours pass from spread to spread but the tone is the same, as mother pleads while her toddler dumps cereal on her head, scribbles on the walls, eats sand in the park, throws a temper tantrum, splashes in the tub, and generally indulges in developmentally appropriate (or at least predictable) behavior. The chant-like text, unified by variations on the “please, baby, please” refrain, is effective and deceptively simple; the inexorable movement of the clock from early (very early) morning to bedtime will move viewers from spread to spread, hour to hour. The oil paintings depict a mischievously grinning, coyly flirty African-American little girl with big, long-lashed brown eyes that flash constantly at the viewer. This is not the same detailed drafting Nelson used in Nolen’s Big Jabe (BCCB 9/00), but a larger, more graphically aggressive style. The toddler’s proportions have a disconcerting way of changing from image to image, but the up-front perspective and enamel-bright primary colors are attention-grabbing, even from far away. In the end, the intensity of the palette (and the pleading) devolves into a softly lit, loving bedtime moment. Parents will empathize with this toddler’s tired folks; kids just out of the toddler stage (or those with toddler sibs) will enjoy a slice of life and humor at parental expense. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2003, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2002, Simon, 32p, $16.95. Ages 2-4 yrs.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2003)
A simple rhyming text chronicles an exasperated mother's typical day with her toddler: "It's time to go, / please, baby, / please. / Don't be so slow, / baby baby baby, please." Readers will be relieved when, at book's end, the child sets straight her nay-saying mom's priorities. Nelson's slightly caricaturing oil illustrations adroitly capture the fine line many toddlers walk between monstrousness and adorableness. Category: Preschool. 2002, Simon, 32pp, $16.95. Ages 2 to 5. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.