The Perfect Baby

When baby brother William arrives on the scene, Lucy is firmly in control of the situation. Because she is not pleased about William’s tendencies to sleep, cry and make ‘disgusting noises and smells’, she insists he must be taken back to the hospital and exchanged. So, back the family go and are offered various alternatives (a tortoise, a monkey, an elephant, etc), none of which is suitable, Lucy finally comes to the conclusion that William is the perfect baby after all. Children will enjoy Lucy’s anarchic control of the situation and her cowering parents who want to keep her happy at all costs. The illustrations, while, in effect, cartoon style, are considerably more sophisticated than that would imply. With different print styles and often integrated text, the pictures help convey the chaos implicit in the story. Huge fun, and just might help new siblings come to terms with their own imperfect babies.