MUMMY, WHAT'S IN YOUR TUMMY?

A toddler imagines all the different creatures and things that could be growing or hiding in Mummy’s pregnancy bump.

This trousers-wearing tyke with brown skin and short curly brown hair hugs Mummy and, in the gentle if uninspiring rhyming text, asks a string of questions about her belly: “Is it a watermelon? That would be funny! / Or is it a little jumping bunny!” The tot goes on to wonder with fanciful logic if the bump could be an odd assortment of things of wildly different shapes and sizes, including an elephant, some new toys, a lion, and a mouse. In the end, the youngster realizes that it must be a baby sister and a new playmate. Here the preschooler is joined by a pink-clad toddler girl with matching coloring and straight, brown hair. The art, consisting of highly stylized cartoons adorned with swaths of colors and occasional patterned designs, appears strangely cropped, as if the original, Chilean edition were a different trim size than this 6 ½-inch-square book. Key figures often appear at the edges of the pages, and readers never see the mother in toto.

Despite the book’s design flaws, this offering featuring an expecting family of color is a welcome new arrival.