Dogrib author Richard Van Camp made his board-book debut with this sweet title, which offers a loving welcome to newborn babies, from their parents and from the world. The simple text, which opens with a chant - "Hey ya hey / Hey ya hey / Hey ya hey / Dear one / Cherished one / Loved one / You have made the world beautiful again" - is paired with photographs of a diverse array of babies. The narrative offers, not just a song of welcome, but a song of promise, imagining the great effect that the newcomer will have on his family, and on the world...

I enjoyed Welcome Song for Baby: A Lullaby for Newborns, which I think will make an engaging board book for infants. First published in 2007, it was apparently given to every baby in British Columbia as part of the 2008 "Books for BC Babies" initiative. As I mentioned in my review of Van Camp's Nighty-Night: A Bedtime Song for Babies, which was created as a follow-up to this one, babies gravitate toward photographs of other babies, something both of these titles provide. Although I do think the sing-song narrative of Nighty-Night makes it a superior book to use, when reading aloud to infants, the sentiments expressed in Welcome Song for Baby are lovely, and when paired with the attention-grabbing photographs, will no doubt keep the youngest children engaged. Recommended to readers looking for sweet and loving board books to welcome a new infant into the world. ( )