BYE-BYE, BABY!
by Richard Morris & illustrated by Larry Day
New-baby books for skeptical siblings abound, but here the older brother is still young enough to be prone to a tantrum or two himself. From day one, Felix is not fond of his new baby sister. She’s loud and she hogs all the attention, leaving Felix thoroughly unimpressed until the day the family goes to the zoo. In mentally cataloging the ways in which various animals could rid him of his little sis (a hippo could eat her, an elephant sit on her, etc.), Felix has such a great time that when it’s time to leave he erupts into a full-blown tantrum. Nothing his parents do can stop it, and in the end it’s Felix’s little sister who manages to figure out just the right thing to do. Clever endpapers show the before-and-after effects of the baby’s existence, and Day’s emotional watercolors drill home Felix’s disgruntlement. Certainly cute enough, and a good complement to Robie H. Harris’s Mail Harry to the Moon, illustrated by Michael Emberley (2008). (Picture book. 3-6)