Too often new baby brother/sister books fall into one of two categories. They are either narrative tales with specific characters and situations or they are nonfiction texts with lots of information. Not saying that either type is bad, of course. The narratives are perfect for helping children discover through story and character how others deal with similar situations and feelings, but they may not offer a lot of information to answer questions a child may have. The nonfiction is helpful for answering questions, but may be inappropriate or inaccessible for a younger child. That said, I was excited to see this book enter my library.
What's Inside your Tummy, Mommy? is a large paperback book--larger than most picture books, which may make it harder to shelve, but is perfect to demonstrate with close to lifesize pictures the growth of the baby inside the womb. Each 2-page spread of the book covers a month's growth and development. The pictures are simple line drawing and color, giving them a basic cartoonish look, but not silly or exaggerated. On the left side of each page is some informational text, on the right side a drawing of a pregnant woman's abdomen and her womb where the baby is growing. The concept makes the book easy to follow and move from month to month as the baby grows.
The book is not heavy on text, but it manages to convey a huge amount of information through what text it chooses to use and the visual imagery on each page spread. Each spread opens with a large text stating the month, then the number of the weeks that month covers. Below that are a series of statements about the progress of the baby and details about the development The text varies in size, color and style, but all of it is large and readable, and the variation helps to provide a kind of visual cue and interest all on its own. Some facts have small illustrations in bubbles with them. On the bottom of the page is timeline indicating the days gone by and the weeks, and that continues through out the book. The image on the right remains the woman's abdomen and illustrates the growth of the baby each month, giving an excellent visual to the change that takes place. The nice thing about this book is that it can work for so many different ages--offering the visuals for younger children, and helpful facts and vocabulary for older without ever getting bogged down in explanations or chunks of text. A mommy to be can hold this up to her belly to demonstrate how the baby would look inside her, and help children understand.
While I did not have an older child at home to share this with, when I was expecting my first child, this was an excellent book to have on hand when visiting classes of kids had questions at the library. It satisfied their curiosity without having to get into complicated explanations. This book does not answer questions on how a baby is made or deal with the sexual process/organs in any way. For some this may make the book less than ideal, if they are looking for something to open a discussion on that subject, but if parent's prefer not to have that particular discussion yet, this book is a way of still talking about the pregnancy and new baby.
For those looking for more narratives texts you may want to check out Too Small for Honey Cake by Gillian Lobel, Julius Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes and Dear Baby by Sarah Sullivan. For nonfiction picture books Babies Don't Eat Pizza by Diane Danzig is another excellent choice.
Happy Reading! ^_^ Shanshad
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