Babies: All You Need to Know (Jump Into Science)

PreSchool-Grade 2-This conversational, loosely organized title explores the physical needs and unique characteristics of babies. The focus is on how children develop in their first 18 months, both in size and in ability. General information, such as what infants eat and why they cry, is interspersed with less well-known details, such as the fact that newborns have more bones than adults. The text also touches on the genetic and environmental reasons that babies look and act the way they do, briefly mentioning adopted children and twins. The computer-assisted illustrations feature caricatures of a single family with round, soft faces and big, brown eyes. The color is loud enough to seem artificial. In a few instances, the illustrations don't help clarify the text. For example, in discussing the rapid growth of a newborn, Heiligman explains that, "A baby who weighs 7 pounds when he is born will probably weigh 21 pounds on his first birthday." The accompanying full-page chart starts its graph line at nine pounds, a disconcerting detail for the literal minded. An uneven presentation with interesting information.
Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

K-Gr. 2. Part of the Jump into Science series, this nonfiction title, which looks and feels like a picture book, presents basic information about how babies grow. It is targeted to children in the lower-elementary grades. The text covers such topics as how babies communicate and gather information from the world, why they may look or act like other family members, and how they learn to eat food as they get older. At the end of the book, there is a "Be a Baby Scientist" activity that allows school-age children to practice their observation skills, providing a secret backwards message for them to read with a mirror. A broad view of how babies differ from older children that will inspire appreciation of the first stage of every life. Kathy Broderick
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