Awaiting the arrival of her sibling, a young toddler is regaled with tales of the story regarding her own birth. Lund’s prose neatly captures the natural conversational rhythm between tot and parent. As the mother reminisces, the child eagerly interjects with comments and questions, reveling in the notion that she too made her mommy’s belly so big that her mom had to be pushed up hills and so forth. Liberally laced with humorous anecdotes, Lund offers a toddler-friendly, generalized version of pregnancy and birth and the surrounding emotions. Readers searching for technical description of gestation and birth will need to look elsewhere. Nakata’s watercolor illustrations are colorful and comic. Soft tones dominate the paintings, which portray both the current and historical events. The mother’s reminiscences are delineated by amoeba-like borders with a small vignette of the toddler’s gleeful reactions included in the corner of each spread. Warm-hearted and compassionate, this tale is ideal for sharing with expectant siblings, who will appreciate this subtle reminder of their own individuality. (Picture book. 3-5)
