Birthday Presents (1987) is by one of my favorite authors, Cynthia Rylant. Again, she captures a compassionate element of childhood - growing up in a family that celebrates each birthday with love. The story is a sequence of birthdays told by the parents of a child who is not gendered in the text. Each birthday has special recognition, fun and not so fun. At the second birthday party "You played until you were crabby, then you cried because you needed a nap. We laughed. We told you we loved you." Young readers can revel in their own physical, cognitive, and emotional growth as they watch a baby scream, a one-year-old spit up, a two-year-old play with wrapping paper, and a five-year-old help bake a cake. Sucie Stevenson's illustrations fill each page with color and a little chaos. Parents will chuckle at the joy and challenge of a child, all with love.
