Babies Ruin Everything

She’s precocious, has pigtails, and hates her new baby brother. You know the type—she stars in countless stories of sibling displacement. “Why am I the only one who sees the truth? We need a better baby!!” she shouts midway through this version from husband-and-wife duo Swanson and Behr. After countless impositions and indignities—including being deprived of attending a birthday party “with three kinds of ice cream” because the baby drops the keys in the toilet—the girl blows her top, then has a moment of self-awareness (“maybe this baby just needs a better sister”) and turns her nemesis into an ally. Behr captures the mind-set of a willful heroine by giving her mixed-media images, different framings, and lots of visual attitude; the bug-eyed baby looks like it has some Ronald Searle DNA, and the adults appear in silhouettes. The chatty narration has its moments (including a resonant observation that the milk at Grandma’s house “tastes weird”), but the irreverent jokiness starts feeling relentless. Ages 4–7. [em]Agent: Meredith Kaffel Simonoff, DeFiore and Company. (July) [/em]