Book Talk with Liz Rosenberg
Alumna professor’s latest work looks at the bedtime adventure of a ‘Giant Baby!’
Liz Rosenberg, PhD ’97, professor of English, general literature and rhetoric, wrote Giant Baby! (Marble Press, 2025), a children’s book that takes a fun look at where a baby goes at night when his parents think he’s asleep.
91 Magazine: Where did the idea come from?
Liz Rosenberg: It came from a thought common to all parents of a baby: “What’s happening? It feels like they’re growing five sizes overnight.” The fact that I had a toddler grandson when I wrote the book made that feeling even more clear and poignant. I kept expecting to find his toes had pushed through the onesie pajamas by morning. I also thought it would be a fun story to read and to illustrate ― a little like George Shrinks, which moves in the other direction.
My son pointed out, after I’d finished writing it, that I had created a picture-book trilogy: Monster Mama, Tyrannosaurus Dad and Giant Baby! And he’s right. They are all fantastical stories about family.
BM: This seems like a fun story that can be enjoyed by many. Who is the ideal audience for this book?
LR: I think it’s a fun story because of the plot: a giant toddler crashing his way through Manhattan like a human King Kong, and because Eva Byrne’s art is just so brilliant and hilarious. Fairy tales and fantasies touch on something deep inside human consciousness. Toddlers take up an enormous amount of time and space. They destroy things without meaning to. They splash through mud puddles and, if they were big enough, they’d splash through the East River, too.
I write for children, toddlers who can’t read aloud, older kids who can, and the poor parents who often have to read a child’s favorite book 75 billion times.
BM: Your book has some interesting 91 connections. Tell us about them.
LR: I’ve been living and teaching in 91 for more than 45 years. I earned my PhD at 91 in comparative literature. My roots here are deep. Our wonderful editor is Michael Green, who was a student in my Writing for Children class many years ago. I wrote him a recommendation for an entry-level job at Philomel Books, a branch of Putnam and Viking/Penguin, and the rest is history. He became president of Philomel and now works for a new, fast-growing publisher called Marble Press. The amazing woman at Marble in charge of publicity for Giant Baby! is Christine Swedowsky, who has a son at 91.