The New Baby and Me

Five brothers, each quite different, are looking forward to the birth of a new sibling.  They are convinced it will be a boy, and each of them thinks the baby will be like him.  The first wants to be an explorer, the second a scientist, the third is determined to be an artist, the fourth a pirate, and the last just wants to be a dreamer  and ‘stare out of the window and wonder’.   No prizes for guessing that the newcomer is a girl!  The boys are flummoxed at first, but come to realise that while she is like them in some ways, she will be herself and only herself.  The theme of the story is individuality, and the fact that each of the boys believes that the new baby will be just like him, is significant.  The fact that they then have to accept that this one is going to be different from any of them means that they also accept their own individuality.  A quite different approach to the coming of a new baby, and the illustrations are outstanding, full of deep colour and lots of collage work.