Don't Eat the Baby! by Amy Young (review)

At first, Tom is upset that his new baby brother, Nathaniel (or as Tom prefers to call him, the Blob), sucks up his family's attention, diverting it away from Tom and his impressive somersaults. Then, however, he notices a sinister trend: first his grandmother gushes that she "could just take a big bite out of " the baby, then Auntie Lulu turns cannibalistic ("Don't you just want to eat him up?"). When the relatives at his parents' party start exclaiming over the baby's "plump, juicy thighs," Tom leaps into defensive action, barricading himself and his brother in his bedroom. When his parents push in, Tom learns about the difference between literal and figurative and ends up thinking that he's pretty good at this big brother thing. Tom is the clear focus of Young's acrylic illustrations, with plenty of detail going into his worried expressions, teal rubber rain boots, and red cape, while Nathaniel is plainly—but cutely—represented with a round head and simple features. The art makes literal both Tom's overactive imagination (he imagines trying to return Nathaniel to Mrs. Stork) and his intense emotions as he wrestles with concerns (he stands forlorn in the corner of a living room filled to the brim with the flotsam of new parents). Great for kids looking for a slightly different take on dethronement, this would pair well another book about the baby-brother blues, like Weeks' Sophie Peterman Tells the Truth! (BCCB 1/10).