THE LAPSNATCHER

Jacob has a new baby sister and isn't very happy about the situation. The adults—mother, father, grandmother—reassure him that they love him as much as ever, but it doesn't feel that way. No one has time to play with him, and his mother's lap is always occupied. Jacob asks the postman to mail the baby to Alaska; he invites the garbage man to take her to the dump; and then sits with the diaper-service deliverywoman as she explains that she was once a lapsnatcher. Jacob starts to gain some perspective. The final resolution is nice: Jacob spends time with his mother and listens to her reminisce about him as a baby. Coville (adapt., William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1996, etc.) forces the turning point in this stiffly illustrated, undistinguished offering. The topic has been covered exhaustively and better—e.g., in Clara Vulliamy's Ellen and the Penguin and the New Baby (1996) and, more recently, in Clare Jarrett's Catherine and the Lion (1997). (Picture book. 3-8)