Global Baby Bedtimes

 Shhhhhhhh... the babies are sleeping.
Babies all around the world cuddle, snuggle, and drift off to sleep.

From Panama to Peru, Argentina to Vietnam, and many stops in between, babies everywhere have their own bedtimes. The locations may be different—on the floor, in a cradle, on mama’s back—but the outcome is the same.

This fifth book in the best-selling Global Babies series features a diverse photo collection of adorable sleeping babies around the world. Each colorful photo gives a glimpse into that baby’s culture, introducing babies and toddlers to their (sleepy) global neighbors.

Maya Ajmera is the founder of The Global Fund for Children and the co-author of more than fifteen books, including To Be a Kid, Faith, Children from Australia to Zimbabwe, and the global education guide, Raising Children to Become Caring Contributors to the World.

Raised in Greenville, North Carolina, Maya attended Elmhurst Elementary School, Rose High School, and graduated in 1985 from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. She received her Bachelor's degree in Biology and Women's Studies from Bryn Mawr College in 1989 and completed a Master's degree at Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University.

Widely traveled, Maya's professional background is in Education and International Development. She is the recipient of a Rotary International Graduate fellowship to study in South Asia. She is also the recipient of the 1993-1997 Echoing Green Public Service Graduate Fellowship and the William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations of North Carolina.

Maya is the the President and CEO of Society for Science & the Public (SSP) and Publisher of its award-winning magazine, Science News.

Maya currently lives in Washington D.C.

*The universality of the most basic human need--sleep--is touchingly illustrated with ahh-inspiring photos.
Each page shows a sleeping infant embraced protectively by a loving parent, nestled in a crib, or held close in a fabric carrier. The country of origin is noted in text curved around each sleeping child's head. Love and care are constant across cultures. The photo from Guatemala, of a little girl asleep amid bananas in a market, mildly hints at the poverty of the region, but even in this instance the baby looks clean, content, and cared for. Several of the children are dressed in colorful, culturally specific clothing--the Chinese baby wears a Mongolian-style hat, blue batik wraps the baby from Panama, and the infant from the Ivory Coast is wrapped in orange, red, and black fabric. Still, the differences are subtle. In reality, these babies could be seen in any American city. Readers are left with the impression that all these babies are part of one human family, although, appropriately, this is never stated directly. The one simple sentence of text starts out, Babies everywhere / go to sleep, and ends with the worldwide wish, Sweet dreams!

Sweet, tender, and positive; perfect for sharing with the newest world citizens.
- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

As any parent can attest, infants are fascinated by certain kinds of objects and patterns--but nothing holds their gaze as much as the human face. In a series of lovingly photographed images, babies from around the world are shown, napping, yawning, and deeply slumbering. Sing a soft lullaby while turning these pages to encourage sweet dreams.
- School Library Journal

The fifth board book in the irresistible Global Babies series features exceptionally clear, colorful photos of infants who are yawning, nodding off, or sound asleep. A single line of text threads its way through the book, drawing the pictures together and providing a sense of continuity. For curious adults and older children, the baby's country is identified on each page. Occasionally a parent, caregiver, or sibling appears in the frame, but the baby is always at the center of things and often the face is shown in close-up. Captivating and soporific, this is a fine bedtime book for little ones and their sleep-deprived parents.
-Booklist