Review by New York Times Review
A crawling baby, an indulgent old dog and a kitchen floor: Fogliano ("And Then It's Spring") turns a small homey moment into a celebration of the merriment kids and pets tumble into - and the easy communication between them. Her artful language combines simple verse and baby talk in a way that will -please little ones ("baby hurry/baby wiggle/'puppy! puppy!'/baby giggle"). The Caldecott medalist Raschka's watercolors swing delightfully between bouncy motion and snuggly rest. HAND IN HAND Written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells. 26 pp. Holt. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) A big-eyed baby bunny tells her mother what she needs from her in verses so sweet and powerful they might just bring new parents to tears. "Be my teacher from day one," the bunny says: "My first feeder. My first reader." In the hands of Wells, the creator of Max and Ruby and many other beloved characters, the loving, moral message is blissfully free of treacle or preachiness. "Let me know my right from wrong," one page says simply, and boxes depict virtues like helping and forgiving. KING BABY Written and illustrated by Kate Beaton. 40 pp. Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 8) Beaton ("The Princess and the Pony") brings a fresh, modern energy and spot-on pacing to the regal-baby theme, showing why comics artists like her have been redefining what picture books can do. King Baby looks like an egg with limbs, but his confidence knows no bounds. His fawning subjects - bearded Dad, Mom in leggings and flats - run themselves ragged trying to meet his demands. The fun rolls on, until King Baby, now a "big boy," magnanimously cedes his rule to, yes, Queen Baby. THE BOSSIER BABY Written and illustrated by Marla Frazee. 40 pp. Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 8) This follow-up to "The Boss Baby" - coming out as a film in the spring - will please new and old devotees. A pearl-wearing baby arrives at the little proto-corporate-tyrant's house, declaring herself the C.E.O. The staff is "strangely delighted." The demoted Boss Baby tries some protest moves (stripping, peeing outside), all futile, until the C.E.O. reaches out to bond with him. As always, Frazee makes it adorable, witty and clever, down to the details of the family's midcentury modern showplace home. RUDAS: Niño's Horrendous Hermanitas Written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales. 32 pp. Neal Porter/Roaring Brook. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Niño is back, and now the mighty masked lucha libre star from "Niño Wrestles the World" must share the stage with his rule-bending twin baby sisters. The girls conquer opponents like "El Extraterrestre" with "incredibly rude feats" involving diapers, biting and climbing all over them. Morales makes Spanish and English words flow together smoothly (as they grab toys one baby says "GIMME!," the other, "MÍO!"), and anything unfamiliar is easy to decipher thanks to her raucous, gorgeous art. ONLINE An expanded visual presentation of this week's column at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 13, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review
Beaton (The Princess and the Pony, 2015) brings her trademark wit to the tale of a brand-new baby. King Baby arrives with the usual fanfare gifts, kisses, and a receiving line that stretches out the door. With such fervent adoration flung at his feet, is it a surprise that King Baby has such an imperious attitude? Surely not! Beaton's cartoonish illustrations of the ovoid, swaddled infant wearing a teensy gold crown depict King Baby doing typical baby things while his parents look on lovingly. The captions, however, reveal the baby's lordly inner monologue I will give you many blessings, for King Baby is generous and his many demands BURP ME! BOUNCE ME! The contrast between Beaton's images of a cooing babe and the stern, sometimes all-caps text is pure comedy, and the story takes a sweet turn when, outgrowing his crown, King Baby becomes a big boy just in time to pass the throne on to his successor and sister, Queen Baby. Perfect for little ones getting ready to greet a new sibling.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Babies rule the house. If they could talk, therefore, they would speak the way kings and queens do. Once Beaton (The Princess and the Pony) establishes her Boss Baby-esque premise, she runs with it. "I am King Baby!" a swaddled egg of an infant announces; golden rays emanate from him, and a tiny crown perches on his head. "Yes, come!" he continues, addressing a line of adoring grandparents, friends, and relatives, ready to pay homage. "You have been waiting for me. I will give you many blessings, for King Baby is generous." The young parents, their chests puffed out with pride, stand guard by the infant bed. Later, King Baby sits on a blanket, holding his arms out for toys on the right side of the page. "Ehh bpp," says his speech balloon-it's what his parents hear-but the text reveals his royal instructions: "Now. Bring me the thing." It's less a story than an extended riff, but Beaton offers a sly, hilarious dig at the way young parents bow to their child's every desire. Ages 4-8. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Beaton brings her well-honed snarky humor to the arena of new baby books. From the first page, the smug, egg-shaped, crown-wearing infant proclaims, "I am King Baby!" The tiny tyrant's reign of terror follows, as crowds of adoring visitors lavish him with attention and affection while he runs his parents ragged with demands for feeding, burping, changing, and bouncing. As the story progresses, King Baby undergoes important milestones, gradually transitioning from a baby to a walking, trike-riding "big boy." Just when it looks like King Baby is ready to surrender his royal crown, his replacement arrives-a little sister, Queen Baby. Beaton's hyperexpressive cartoon illustrations create a hilarious visual counterpoint to the baby's authoritarian first-person narration; on one spread, exhausted parents slump on the couch as the infant gazes victoriously over the floor strewn thick with baby paraphernalia and says, "It is good to be the king." VERDICT Similar in spirit to Marla Frazee's The Boss Baby, this is a delightful and silly tale for soon-to-be-older siblings and their weary parents.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, but this ruler cant yet support his own neck. A king (really a newborn baby) greets his loyal subjects (really relatives and friends of the family): I am King Baby!I will give you many blessings, for King Baby is generous. The hand-drawn and digitally completed illustrations show that hes adorable and sweet and cuddly, egg-shaped with little rosy cheeks, a benevolent-looking ruler. All smiles, he poses for photos and entertains his people. However, and this comes as no surprise, your king also has many demands! Like any newborn, King Baby is high-maintenance, unpredictable, and frequently frustrated by his parents lack of understanding: Bring me the thingNot this thing!Bring me the other thing! His frustration motivates him to learn to crawl, then to walk. King Baby, having outgrown his moniker, worries about who will watch over his subjectsbut the arrival of Queen Baby ensures the line of succession. The spare, humorous text is mostly from autocratic King Babys point of view (Mom and Dad get in a couple of lines of speech-bubble dialogue). Unlike King Baby himself, Beatons illustrations are unfussy (ha!), with lots of white space; the spread in which he learns to crawl (first falling on his face) is slapstick for toddlers. Its good to be the king, Mel Brooks famously said in History of the World, Part I, and King Baby thinks so, too. elissa gershowitz (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
