School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-Yet another title to add to the glut of new baby books, this time from the point of view of the baby inside. The infant introduces herself, explains that the parents don't know her name because they don't know if she is a girl or boy, and then proceeds to list all of the things that is she doing when her mom says she is eating, sleeping, or kicking. Her activities include everything from flying in a rocket ship to doing yoga to dancing. Finally, in a switch from past to present tense she is "very very busy" being born. And on the final page, with no transition: "Hello Molly." Frenetic acrylic illustrations feature round-headed, pointy-nosed people who all look constantly delighted. The artwork is large and bright, mixing single full pages and spreads with spot art, which effectively encourages page turns and narrative flow. Both the father and the very pregnant mother are depicted as active, involved parents, and the busy pictures contain a lot of movement. Unfortunately, the story doesn't really work. The awkward tense change, the flips between total fantasy and semi-reality, and the uninspired text simply don't add up. Barbara Park's Ma! There's Nothing to Do Here! (Random, 2008) treads similar ground with a better-flowing text.-Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Feiffer and Huliska-Beith's pregnancy comedy gets off to a slow start: the opening pages, devoted to all the baby's possible names, doesn't have much to do with what follows. But once they establish their hook, the book cruises along. Mom, whose tummy has reached are-we-there-yet proportions, has three standard answers to the story's interrogative refrain ("What's the baby doing?"): baby is eating, sleeping, or kicking. But the in utero protagonist provides the real answers-or at least answers that show the beginnings of a first-class imagination. Mom says that the baby is sleeping while she takes a shower, but the narrator, who has somehow obtained a bright yellow slicker, begs to differ. "I was on a boat in the ocean in a big storm. A big, HUGE, GIGANTIC rainstorm." Though Huliska-Beith's (The Worst Best Friend) artwork retains the comic surrealism of previous books, some may feel she's gone too cutesy-Baby's kewpieness could be dialed back. Still, the acrylic images' sculptural feel and neon colors are a good match for Feiffer's (Which Puppy?) exuberance and may offer a welcome distraction from burgeoning displacement anxieties. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
