Madeleine's World: A Child's Journey From Birth To Age Three

Madeleine's World: A Child's Journey from Birth to Age Three

Product DescriptionThe author explores the changes that occur in his daughter's life from the moment she is born through her third birthday, attempting to put into words her realizations about herself, her life, family, and surroundingsAmazon.com ReviewNone of us remember our babyhood, but inMadeleine's World author Brian Hall () gives us a glimpse into what it might've felt like.Madeleine's World is an odd, charming biography of a particular child, from birth to age 3. Hall, Madeleine's father, begins at day one of Madeleine's life, observing Madeleine and speculating on her perceptions and experience of infancy. As she grows, Hall gives us a look at her developmental milestones: first laugh, first words, first step, first tantrum--from the inside out. As Madeleine grows, we gain insights into the development of language and consciousness, attachments and separation, curiosity and fear. Hall's experience in writing fiction is evident:Madeleine's World has the urgency of a novel. When Madeleine is 3 years old, the book draws to a close, and readers are left with a sense of utter respect for the child--every child--and for all human beings.From Library JournalHall (The Saskiad, LJ 11/1/96) narrates the evolution and growth of his daughter from birth to age three. Through the loving eyes of her father, we see Madeleine's thought patterns and behavior, including her language development and family and peer relationships. While Madeleine's behavior is sometimes compared to our primal beginnings, this is not a scientific work but a memoir. There are some amusing observations, but constant analysis of a child's reaction to favorite books, toys, playmates, and her parents make this an uninteresting read. It is like looking at photo albums of a child you never met?your attention span dwindles fast. Not recommended.-?Lisa A. Errico-Cox, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, N.Y.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Kirkus ReviewsA father's close-up view of his daughter's growing up, from her active days in the womb to the exhausted tantrum at the end of her third birthday. Hall is a writer of both fiction and nonfiction (The Impossible Country, 1994), but it is the novelist's sensibility that he brings to this biography of his first child, Madeleine. He has done his research on mental and physical development of the infant to the age we now call preschooler: the prehensile grasp of newborns, so strong in the first days; the separation of ``me'' from ``not-me''; the understanding of object permanence; the development of mobility, self-awareness, language; issues of control (the two-year-old's ``No!''). But to his close observations of her development (he was the parent on duty exactly ``40 percent'' of the time), he brought also a familiarity with myth and the growth of consciousness, and a poetic sensibility that realizes things are not always what they seem. A simple example: Blowing out her second birthday candles disconcerted Madeleine. Normal interpretation: Where did the flame go? What magic is this? But Hall probes deeper. Interpreting a photograph from that event, he sees Madeleine as looking ``worried and guilty''; had she ``broken'' or ``killed'' the flames? Is she beginning to understand herself as an instrument, a cause of the effect? When she begins to fear the monsters in the shadows, Hall reads and rereads the books meant to reassure her but finally comes to grips with Madeleine's very real dread and assigns himself to protect her: ``If a tiger came in here, I'd give it a karate chop.'' ``Poop'' is also a big issue, as is Madeleine's ambivalence at the arrival of her baby sister. Like every first-time parent, Hall seems to project his own childhood doubts and fears onto his daughter. Nevertheless, it's a pleasure to have a father report so astutely and with such concern on a baby growing up. --Copyright