Hello little babies by Alison Lester

ABC Books, 2016 ISBN 9780733330414
(Age: 3+) Recommended. Babies. Development. Family. Welcoming a new addition to a home and family is developed in this funny book about babies and families. From the start we know a new baby has arrived. Each of the six shown are differently dressed and sleep in a different bed, and each has a short statement told about them. Alice has her father's hair, Tom has a dimpled chin, and Zane has silky skin.
The wonderful illustrations will attract readers' eyes to look more closely at the humour, as they read the text. Turning the pages the reader will find the rest of the book divided into sections: sleeping, playing, eating, moving and exploring.
Each section plays with the things the child does, showing the development of the babies' skills and abilities from birth to about twelve months old. Each of the six babies in each section, again, is shown to be quite different with different parents, doing different things together. Readers will recognise the baby in their own home on many of the pages, and see the stages that the baby goes through as it grows older. Behaviour of the parents is modeled, and readers will see how the baby and parents interact, one teaching the other as it grows from being a helpless baby to a child crawling and then walking.
The book is quite delightful and would be a wonderful tool in the classroom to talk about new siblings, the stages of growth and development, or simply as a show and tell about what happens in people's homes where a new baby has arrived. The love shown within the family illuminates every page and shows the reader what a family offers.
Fran Knight