Hello Baby! by Lizzy Rockwell

Hello Baby! by Lizzy Rockwell

Rating: 3.5 stars

So my mother was visiting when we got all these sibling/new baby books from the library.  She was helping me with lunch one day, and I handed her a short stack of books, including this one.  Of course, I hadn't previewed the books before.  Of course, that got me in trouble once again.

She started reading.  The first page is a cute one--with a very pregnant mom sitting on the sofa with her toddler son.  He is listening to and feeling her stomach, and the text (written in the little boy's voice) explains how he's sitting very still, "I wait, and I wait--then I feel it!  Kind of like a swoosh and kind of like a thump, it's almost nothing at all.  But I know that funny feeling.  It's our baby!  Hello, baby!"  I thought that was pretty cute.

Then she turned the page.  Augh! 

There is a picture of "our new baby," in utero!  Grammy wasn't expecting that, and neither was I!  That was a whole lot more details than Lorelei expected to get with her PBJ.  And, as the book goes on, more details are shared and illustrated: the doctor listening to mother's belly during a check-up, a "how a baby grows" chart, the baby with the umbilical cord stub (gross!). 

I really don't have any problem sharing this information with my children, but there is no third baby on the way and it's not like they are asking about how a baby is made!  Once again, I really need to read books first.  The point is, of course, that this book is really good if you want to teach your child everything that is going on, not just point out that in 40 weeks --poof!-- s/he will be a big sister/brother.  The images are really cute, especially the newborn baby ones, and it does tell a child what to expect.  And, unlike the vast majority of the other sibling/new baby books, the big brother is excited about his baby sister's arrival and loves her very much. 

This is a good one IF you are looking for an informative children's book about the impending arrival of a baby.  There is a sweet story in addition to the information, which makes that information easier to digest.  Even with a PBJ.