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John Steptoe''s Baby Says.

Article Excerpt
In his tragically short career as a picture book creator, John Steptoe received attention for his groundbreaking early books--such as Stevie and My Special Best Words--and, later on, for his lavishly detailed folktale retellings, The Story of Jumping Mouse and Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. Published in 1988, a year before Steptoe died at age thirty-eight, Baby Says was deceptively simple compared to Steptoe's other work. As a result, it goes largely over-looked.

But surely anyone who has ever shared Baby Says with a group of three-year-olds will recognize the ingenuity behind Steptoe's repeated use of three baby words or phrases--uh, oh; no, no; and okay--which, put into context by realistic pastel illustrations, tell the familiar story of sibling rivalry and harmony. And anyone who knows Steptoe's work will recognize Baby Says as part of a continuum.

Over the span of his twenty-year career, Steptoe returned again and again to the complexities of sibling relationships, approaching the subject each time from a slightly different angle. What remained constant was his gift for realism, first in language and later in illustrations. What changed was his artistry: as his pictures became more detailed and realistic, he depended on them to carry more of the story, and the stories themselves were more carefully crafted. Ultimately, with Baby Says, he was able to tell a story with just six words: baby; says; here; uh, oh; okay; and no.

Steptoe achieved instant celebrity with the publication of his first book, Stevie, in 1969. A few months before the book's publication, Life magazine ran a...

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