My son received the book, It’s My Birthday, on his first birthday. Maybe it was the unassuming, softly colored illustrations or the absence of a popular central character (the birthday celebrant does not even have a name!), but this book was placed in the back burner after its first reading. However, as with most things that get better with age, it was not until my son was almost two years old when we both started appreciating this book by Helen Oxenbury. When it was my daughter’s turn to have her first birthday, my son would insist on reading this book to her.  Needless to say, It’s My Birthday has become one of my children’s favorite books. 

Simple Cadence

It’s My Birthday is a wonderful story of a young child who decides to bake a birthday cake.  In a simple and easy to follow cadence, the celebrant builds up on the list of ingredients needed to bake the cake.  The child’s animal friends each, then, volunteer to help gather the specific ingredients as the list gradually gets longer.  As my son, and eventually my younger daughter, got more familiar with the pace of the narration, he would even finish off the sentences with the ingredient what would be needed next.  It is only at the end of the story where the child and the animals celebrate and eat the birthday cake that the cadence breaks off to a cheerful, “Happy Birthday!”  That, too, is my children’s favorite part as I even break into the birthday song when we reach the last spread and they can sing along with me.

Early Lessons for Toddlers: Cooperation and Chores

When my children were still toddlers, I would refer to this book whenever we worked on a chore or task together.  This book imparts the value of cooperation, underlining how a task can be easier and more fun when done together.  So whether we were cleaning up their rooms or setting the dinner table, each of us would have our little chores similar to the animals in the story.  My children would then look forward to helping out knowing that they played a part in the task at hand.  Of course, like the birthday celebration at the end of the story, we would have our own prize to share together as well—storytelling time on the bed that we just made, or a delicious dessert after dinner.

This book is highly recommended for families with young children.  Unlike most other children’s stories, the child in It’s My Birthday was written to be deliberately not gender-specific.  I think that this made it easier for my respective son and daughter to relate with the central character of the story.  Moreover, the illustrations of animals having human-like attributes added more conversation pieces and further enjoyment to the story.

Photo from www.alibris.com