""Translates all the classic worries about impending siblinghood into broad comic terms."
PreS-Gr 1-When a little girl asks her pregnant mother, "What do you have in there?," her response is, "A Special Something." As the child feels and listens to Mommy's tummy, she imagines what that something might be: a big, fat hippo or a hairy, naughty monkey? A wriggly crocodile or an angry kangaroo? She imagines how each of these creatures would disrupt her way of life by keeping her awake at night or messing with her possessions. Finally, when she meets her new brother in the hospital, she finds that he's nothing like she imagined. He is "safe and soft and new, and makes hardly a sound." At the end, her father takes a picture of his "two Special Somethings." The problem is that the child seems genuinely unsure about what could be inside her mother's belly. The adults do nothing to quell her fears, sending her off to bed with troubling misgivings. Plus, while the imagined misdeeds of the animals represent real concerns about having a sibling, there is no acknowledgment of this fact. While the text is unoriginal, the illustrations highlight the story's fantasy elements and add necessary humor. They are breezy and energetic with childlike details that heighten the fun. They also create credible characters, especially the father, who looks more rumpled than his wife. Readers may just accept this book as silly meanderings about the imminent birth of a baby, and the illustrations will certainly help them enjoy the experience, but it will not reassure soon-to-be siblings.-Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
""Translates all the classic worries about impending siblinghood into broad comic terms."
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