A Special Something

Mommy has a ""big fat tummy."" Her daughter, the pigtailed narrator (who looks to be around kindergarten age), wonders what's inside. Her mother calls it ""a special something,"" but that seems rather vague. Could it be a hippopotamus? A dinosaur? A monkey? None of the possible scenarios are encouraging: ""A big fat hippopotamus will take up all the room in the wading pool / and hog all of my toys!"" Of course, when her baby brother finally arrives, the girl discovers that it is possible for a family to have two Special Somethings. British author/illustrator Fearnley translates all the classic worries about impending siblinghood into broad comic terms, and visually she succeeds: her airy watercolor and ink drawings combine well-observed vignettes of domestic life during pregnancy with the hilarious exaggerations that are the stuff of anxious fantasies. But the premise underestimates the savvy of children: the girl's need to ruminate about animals inside her mommy may strike many young readers as far-fetched. Ages 3-7. (May)