Mustache Baby Meets His Match

Fans of Bridget Heos & Joy Ang’s Mustache Baby will enjoy the sequel, Mustache Baby Meets His Match. Baby Billy was born with a good-guy mustache, which occasionally curls into a bad-guy mustache. One day, bearded Baby Javier comes to town. Billy tries to show Javier who’s the sheriff, “but this wasn’t Javier’s first rodeo.” The competition stiffens, until Billy’ anger turns him to the Dark Side. In response, Javier’s beard becomes a bad-guy beard. Eventually, Mom must separate the two wrestlers. Billy is sad because instead of a sidekick, now he has a bitter rival. Mom encourages Billy to apologize, and the two are reconciled, becoming “pardners” in crime.

Mustache Baby Meets His Match is a fun, engaging story, with positive themes of learning not to be too competitive, friendship, and learning to say “I’m sorry.” The text is full of humor and cowboy references that both kids and adults can appreciate, like “won by a whisker” and “chapped Billy’s hide.”

The artwork is also terrific, setting the tone perfectly for the story. Humor is readily apparent in the artwork too, like the shadow on the first page, Javier forcing Billy to walk the plank, and Javier painting a Van Gogh.