Spurred by his own experiences as a parent, the 2022 Booker Prize-winning author Shehan Karunatilaka, ventured into making books for young readers, with the Baby Baba series of books, in 2019.

Written in rhyme and quirkily illustrated by his brother Lalith Karunatilaka, the book begins with describing Baby Baba—a bemused but fearless toddler in a yellow onesie—and his daily adventures.

Baby Baba’s mostly good. Baby Baba likes his food.
He doesn’t scream. He will not shout.
He just puts bad things in his mouth.

The reader sees a small, tentative, shadowy figure in the background on the following pages, as Baby Baba embraces the explorer within and looks for bigger objects to put in his mouth, such as:

His Akki’s dolls.
His Mama’s keys.
His Dada’s fork.
His Grandma’s teeth.

The shadowy figure steps into the foreground in full colour on the next spread, and is revealed to be Baby Baba’s Akki (older sister in Sinhalese), who’s keeping a close eye on her young sibling’s deft but potentially dangerous moves. It’s evident from the text that the writer relishes taking the story further, building on the exaggeration in the plot, introducing increasingly unlikely objects for the baby’s next chomp, such as:

He tried to bite his uncle’s shoes.
He tried to eat a pink balloon.
A devil mask.
A coffee tray.
A laser disc that no one plays.

The author-illustrator duo also introduce glimpses of Sri Lankan heritage with the portrayal of the devil mask, rendered in a style that is typical of the island nation, as well as with the use of words such as udella (a type of garden hoe). The author plays with the reader by adding a little aside to let one know:

*I’ve travelled from Ella to Valhalla
But haven’t found a word that rhymes with Udella

Baby Baba’s objects of choice become zanier as the pages turn, until his mother steps in, with the just-right solution from the “Desperate Mums” store, much to Akki’s relief.

Here’s a book that parents, older siblings of toddler-explorers, and the babies themselves are likely to enjoy. Baby Baba makes a re-appearance with the next book in the series, Where Shall I Poop?, and the forthcoming I’m Never Ever Going to Sleep.

Please Don’t Put That In Your Mouth
Written by Shehan Karunatilaka
Illustrated by Lalith Karunatilaka
Published by Talking Cub, an imprint of Speaking Tiger
ISBN: 9789388874243

Find it at a library here

Karthika Gopalakrishnan is the Head of Reading at Neev Academy, Bangalore, and the Director of the Neev Literature Festival. In the past, she has worked as a children’s book writer, editor, and content curator at Multistory Learning which ran a reading program for schools across south India. Prior to this, Karthika was a full-time print journalist with two national dailies. Her Twitter handle is g_karthika.