Mission: New Baby - Hardcover

SUSAN HOOD has written hundreds of children’s books, including picture books, board books, interactive books, nonfiction, and beginning readers. She lives with her family in Connecticut and enjoys spending the summer sailing with her husband along the coast of Maine.

MARY LUNDQUIST graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston and then moved to England for three years. She and her husband now live by the Pacific Ocean and visit the beach at least once a week.

K-Gr 2—Written in guidebook format for "special agents" preparing to be new brothers or sisters, this book highlights 16 tasks for "training" a "new recruit." Four different families appear in vignettes that illustrate what older siblings can do with babies, including showing family photos, playing games, and teaching words and sounds. Scenes depict the children not only helping out as the babies grow and learn, but also developing relationships along the way. A small, blue robot appears throughout, and while characters speak in word balloons with black text, the book is written in large capital block letters in different colors. The simple, minimalistic drawings feature rosy-cheeked children and adults, an abundance of white space, and fun samples of softly colored patterns and prints. Humor around dirty diapers will elicit giggles. There is some racial diversity in the characters, but only the young white boy is ever referred to by name. Some of the vocabulary, such as covert and credentials, suggests that readers share this book with adults who can help them apply meaning to the wordplay. A fun, entertaining resource for kids preparing to welcome a new baby.—Whitney LeBlanc, Staten Island Academy, NY