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Summary
Summary
In a first-time creative pairing, two of the world's most treasured picture book creators offer a truly delightful book for new-siblings-to-be.
When is the new baby coming? What will we call it? What will he do? We don't really need a baby, do we? With sensitivity and wit, John Burningham follows the swirl of questions in the mind of a young child anticipating a baby sibling with excitement, curiosity, and just a bit of trepidation. In perfect tandem, Helen Oxenbury captures the child's loving interactions with his mother -- along with the fanciful future scenarios he imagines for the new family member he has yet to meet. Combining a warm, timeless story with illustrations both freshly enchanting and wonderfully nostalgic, this gorgeous book has all the hallmarks of a classic.
Author Notes
John Burningham was born in Farnham, United Kingdom on April 27, 1936. After two and a half years of non-military service as a conscientious objector, he graduated from Central School of Art with distinction in 1959. Before becoming a children's author and illustrator, he made puppets for Yoram Gross's animation film Joseph the Dreamer and was commissioned to produce a number of posters for London Transport.
Burningham's first picture book, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose with No Feathers, was published in 1963 and won the Kate Greenaway Medal. His other books included Humbert, Avocado Baby, Oi! Get Off Our Train, Courtney, Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present, Come Away from the Water, Shirley, England, Cloudland, France, and There's Going to Be a Baby written with his wife and fellow illustrator Helen Oxenbury. He also illustrated Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 1964 and Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows in 1983. He received the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1970 for Mr. Gumpy's Outing, the Kurt Maschler award in 1984 for Granpa, and the Booktrust lifetime achievement award in 2018 with Oxenbury. Burningham died on January 4, 2019 at the age of 82.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-A wonderful collaboration by the renowned husband-and-wife team. As the winter snows arrive, a mother tells her young son that a new baby is on the way. "'When is the baby going to come?' he asks. His mom answers 'The baby will arrive when it's ready, in the fall, when the leaves are turning brown and falling.'" The remaining panels portray the conversations they have over the next several months as they anticipate the birth. The boy's emotions run from some initial anxiety ("'It will make a mess everywhere'") to realizing that he will perhaps have a new playmate to wondering if a new baby is really necessary. The illustrations alternate between mother-and-son talks at the park, the bank, the zoo, etc., with the youngster's fanciful imaginings of the baby at work and play. The artwork, done in ink with digital colorization, is classic Oxenbury and has a slightly retro feel in layout and palette. It is both sweet and comical at the same time. Overall, this lovely, oversize volume belongs in every new-baby collection.-Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
On the heels of the pairing of Mem Fox and Oxenbury in Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, here's another dream-come-true matchup: Oxenbury and her husband. A little boy has learned that a sibling is on the way; as the seasons change and the mother's tummy expands, she and the boy engage in a fanciful dialogue on the subject of "What will the baby do?" It's an approach that could easily turn twee, but Burningham (It's a Secret!) makes it feel like an authentic portrayal of both an expectant mother's reveries and a firstborn's vacillating emotions. When the mother suggests that the baby could work at the zoo, the boy mischievously suggests that a tiger might eat the new arrival. Wordless intervening spreads picture the baby trying out the various career paths discussed-in this case, washing and feeding various animals. The handsome, clear-lined images may seem retro at first, but the crispness acts as a containing presence for displacement fears and a source of narrative momentum-all the while allowing Oxenbury to exercise the full power of her visual magic. Ages 2-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.