Baby and Me

By Angela Casabene & Hilary Jean Tapper

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

Angela’s first picture book All You Can Be, a love letter to children everywhere, was inspired by her daughter. Here she has teamed up with Hilary Jean Tapper, an illustrator who has collaborated on many picture books, all focused on early childhood.

Baby and Me focuses on those intimate quiet moments shared by parent and child in the first year. These moments are contrasted with the rush, bustle and noise of the city around them. ‘Busy, busy in the city, people going to and fro. But baby and me sit quietly. We’re glad the days are slow.’

In the rhyming text and the soft pastel illustrations the small details of a baby’s life are celebrated – a smile for mother, playing with fingers and toes, asleep on a shoulder, sitting on a lap enjoying a book. In a world filled with noise and chaos it is a reminder that these precious moments are all too fleeting and need to be acknowledged.

An ideal gift for new parents.

Affirm Press 2025

Angela Casabene

Hilary Jean Tapper