Born from the Heart

Debut author Berta Serrano and her brother, Alfonso, use the metaphor suggested by the book’s title to describe the relationship between parents and their adopted children. The analogy is a fine one, but the execution falls short. Rose and Charlie are eager to become parents, and a visit to the doctor provides them with a recipe that involves love, enthusiasm, and patience. Rose mixes up the resulting “potion,” and a return trip to the doctor reveals that it’s working. “I believe you are going to have a child,” says the doctor, pointing to an X-ray of Rose’s heart, inside which a fetus appears. “I can see something gleaming in your heart!” Alfonso Serrano’s illustrations portray the couple as oddly elongated and almost wormlike; as time passes, it’s Rose’s heart, not her belly, that continues to grow, bulging from her chest like that of a lovestruck Looney Tunes character. While the eventual arrival of the child and the story’s underlying message are touching, its adult focus and strangely literal moments are more likely to confuse than comfort. Ages 3–up. (Oct.)