The Starlight Baby

The Starlight Baby recounts the story of a baby ‘who had no mother, crying in the starlight’ for someone to be its mother. But the moon, the wind, the trees, a wolf, a stream, all refuse the baby’s plea for warmth, for shelter, for food. Harbour’s soft pastel crayoney artwork removes the threat which might otherwise be implicit in the baby’s peregrinations around a soft and gentle, but unwelcoming landscape.

However, there is no explanation where the genderless leaf-clad baby has come from. It is easier to surmise why the woman ‘who did not smile because she had no child’ is led by the wind to the place where the baby lies, and why she immediately picks up the baby to find fulfilment in a maternal role.

It is difficult to establish what might be the intended audience for this book. It will possibly appeal to adults more than to children. Both baby and mother are characterless and visually bland, and the words, while soothing, do not lend any texture to the story.