HELLO BABY!

Lion's fabric mane on the cover promises excitement within.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t deliver. Inside, the stuffed animals are cheery but disappointingly bland. Saccharine-sweet four-line rhymes refer to the pastel stuffed animals that play on each page. Lion rides a bike; Puppy is playing with cars, while Mouse plays a horn. Curiously, the “Baby” the title greets is nowhere to be seen. The same animal toys are featured in two other titles published simultaneously. In Good Night Baby! Elephant, Bunny, Penguin, and all the others pile into bed, but again there is no baby in sight. Peekaboo Baby! is the most successful of the trio. It avoids the sugary rhymes, instead posing a question that is answered when readers open a large gatefold flap on the opposite page. The final flap reveals a mirror, and finally, there's Baby. However, an excited toddler could quite easily tear the flaps, which are just half as thick as the regular pages. The large trim size of all three books (just under 8 inches square) allows for an uncluttered layout. Both Hello and Good Night have birds, butterflies, music notes, and flowers scattered about, making it abundantly clear that cheerfulness is mandatory in this little world.

An acceptably simple confection, about as necessary for a baby as candy