In Sophie Blackall's The Baby Tree, words and pictures remain firmly planted in the boy narrator's consciousness as he attempts to understand the impending arrival of a new sibling.
A series of images chronicles his routine. A black cat sleeps on the end of his bed and follows the boy on his rounds to wake up Dad, wake up Mom "and wake up Dad again." The child gets dressed, feeds the cat and, at breakfast, Mom and Dad "tell me they're going to tell me some news. And then they tell me the news. A new baby is coming." The boy asks various trusted sources about where babies come from. Olive, the teenager who walks the boy to school, says, "You plant a seed and it grows into a Baby Tree." The child imagines babies hatching from bulb-like blossoms. His teacher says babies come from the hospital. Grandpa says the stork brings the baby and "leaves it in a bundle on your doorstep." Yet every morning, when the child opens the door, "there are no babies, only the mail." Finally, he simply asks his mom and dad, "Where do babies come from?" Their explanation is well-suited to preschoolers and kindergartners. In a humorous twist, the boy finds the kernel of truth in everyone's explanations, except for one: "I'm going to have to tell Grandpa where babies come from." Blackall's (Big Red Lollipop) endnotes suggest additional age-appropriate responses.
With just enough concrete information and whimsy, this will be the go-to book for families who are expecting a second child. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness