Available:*
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Join a family of three who spend nine whole months waiting, from a frosty winter through a sun-dappled summer, until finally . . . a baby is here.
A Boston Globe - Horn Book Honor Recipient
An NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students
A Capitol Choices Noteworthy Title
A soon-to-be big sister and her parents prepare for the arrival of a new baby in the family. Alternating panels depict what the family is experiencing in tandem with how the baby is growing, spanning everything from receiving the news about the new baby to the excitement of its arrival.
In this pregnancy book unlike any other one out there, watch what's actually happening through meticulously detailed, actual size illustrations, perfectly paired with a lyrical yet informative text, and culminating in a warm, joyful birth scene.
Complete with backmatter that includes an elaboration on pregnancy, a list of amazing things babies can do before they're born, and more, Miranda Paul and Caldecott Medalist Jason Chin deliver another spectacular nonfiction picture book.
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A Horn Book Best Book of the Year
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year - Outstanding Merit
Author Notes
Miranda Paul is an award-winning author of children's books whose work includes Water Is Water (also illustrated by Jason Chin), Are We Pears Yet (illustrated by Carin Berger), and One Plastic Bag- Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia . She lives in Wisconsin.
Jason Chin is a celebrated author and illustrator of children's books. He received a Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in Andrea Wang's Watercress , a Newbery Honor book and APALA award winner. His book Grand Canyon was awarded a Caldecott Honor, a Sibert Honor, and the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award. His other acclaimed nonfiction titles-- Coral Reefs , Redwoods , Gravity , and Island- A Story of the Galapagos --have received numerous starred reviews and other accolades. He is also the illustrator of Stephanie Parsley Ledyard's debut title Pie Is for Sharing , which has received four starred reviews. He lives in Vermont.
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-Beginning with a fertilized egg ("Small. Ball. The point of a pin. Then it divides."), Paul tracks the gestation of a human fetus in poetic yet matter-of-fact language. In exacting detail (later images are labeled "actual size"), Chin depicts the developing child at specified days or weeks on one side, while on the facing pages he follows a couple and their preschool-age daughter as they share a bilingual "new baby" book, visit the doctor to see an ultrasound image, go about daily routines in their suburban house, set up furniture and supplies, and finally gather with doting grandparents at the bed where mother and newborn baby girl nestle. The author expands on her terse narrative at the end in engaging observations that include notes on fetal hiccups, how taste buds develop immersed in amniotic fluid that is actually flavored by what the mother eats, what unborn children can sense, and other wonders-plus a brief, sensitive acknowledgement that miscarriages happen but it's nobody's fault. Sex at one end of the process and cesarean sections at the other go unmentioned. Though the bibliography leaves Robie H. Harris out of the mix, it does include several comprehensive resources for parents. VERDICT A bright, savvy heads-up for younger children in growing families; equally useful for shaping expectations and providing realistic glimpses of what's going on inside a pregnant person.-John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, New York © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Realistic, light-infused paintings by Chin (Grand Canyon) and spare rhymes by Paul (Are We Pears Yet?) highlight a fetus's developmental milestones inside a mother's womb while outside, a family lovingly prepares, month by month, for the baby's arrival. Labeled illustrations of dividing cells, an embryo, then a fetus (depicted actual size from months four to nine) sit opposite inviting scenes of the family at the same stage getting ready to welcome its newest member. "Lips./ Flips./ Curve, dip, and groove./ She has a face./ She likes to move!" declares the "Month Five" spread, which attends the family assembling a crib. Along the way, the expecting parents proffer a "big sister" T-shirt to their preschool-age child, and mother and daughter share tender tummy-touching moments prior to the birth, which is marked by a close-up of the squalling newborn. Illustrated back matter explains the gestational stages in greater depth. Additional sections compare human and animal gestation spans and straightforwardly answer questions about multiple and premature births, as well as miscarriages. This appealing treatment of the subject strikes a perfect balance between biology-minus the birds and bees-and a gentle relevancy for young, soon-to-be siblings. Ages 4-8. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.