Mini Review: Before You Were Born by Deborah Kerbel Illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo

Absolutely breathtaking, stunning, gorgeous, and brought tears to my eyes.

That is what went through my head as I first sat down to write this review. The illustrations done in polymer clay and acrylic wash combined with the poetic verse pushed this picture book to the top of my list of favorites. I sat reading this book in a coffee shop with another member of the Lit Review Crew. We both read it and we both were speechless. We are both moms, so there was so much emotion attached to the memory of expecting a child. But, this book can be enjoyed by so many people, even those without children. We started talking about all we could have our students do with this as their mentor text and what an art teacher could do with this as a model. When a book keeps you thinking and makes you want to shout it from the rooftop, you know it is a good one.

I am not really going to give much more detail, other than to say that you should go to a store and at least look at the pages. Once you see the descriptive language with the beautiful illustrations, you will be hooked and understand why I think this book is the most beautiful thing I have seen.

I will leave you with my favorite lines:

“A mountain of promise,

A valley of calm,

Light of the world,

Curled into our palm.”

Special thanks to the author, illustrator, and publisher who shared this book with our Lit Review Crew.