With an animal cast so elated that they seem on the verge of jumping into readers' laps, Murphy (How Kind!) offer indisputable proof that a newborn is one of nature's most powerful mood enhancers. A fish leaps for joy: "I saw the baby! Did you see the baby?" "Yes!" a wide-eyed heron-like bird exclaims. "I saw the baby, the teeny weeny thing." More pairs gleefully compare notes in rhythmic prose about feeding, tickling or serenading the baby, and Murphy's bold, silhouetted characterizations—popping like flashbulbs out of alternating backgrounds of black and white—make it clear that everyone has come away energized from their infant interaction. A band of a single solid color (chartreuse, fuchsia, sienna) on the top, bottom or side of each spread injects additional pizzazz. The happiest animal of all: the baby's mother, a duck. "Of course I kissed the baby, my own amazing baby," she tells a hopping mouse. The feathered mother then turns to her adoring yellow offspring (the first color introduced into the main composition) to kiss her duckling once more with a huge "Ppfffwah!" (an onomatopoeia made even more memorable thanks to Murphy's own coltish typography). The high-contrast pictures and exclamatory text are guaranteed eye and ear magnets for littlest ones. Even skeptical new siblings will get a kick out of the animals' unbridled enthusiasm. Ages 2-5. (May)
