Baby on Board

This is a down-to-earth book about a family expecting a baby. We hear about morning sickness, frequent visits to the lavatory and the need for larger brassieres and knickers as the mother expands. But to start the text with ‘Mum and Dad have been at it again’, while possibly consistent with some post-modern approaches, seems to me charmless and inappropriate for the 3-5 year olds for whom the book is intended. However, apart from an ‘in your face’ start, this is an excellent book with an interesting and effective design. The pages, which are landscape, get bigger as the baby grows over nine months of gestation. There are complementary stories on alternate pages: one about the impact of the impending birth on the little girl and her parents and the other about the baby’s growth from ‘a blob’ to a ‘real person ready to launch’.

The illustrations are bright and distinctive and the last double spread summarising the baby’s development is most helpful and likely to encourage the young listeners to talk and question. A clear, often witty, text combines perfectly with the pictures to make this a most original picture book.