RALPHIE AND THE SWAMP BABY

A young alligator addresses some powerful feelings in this perceptive tale about sibling rivalry. As an only child, Ralphie has always enjoyed lots of attention from his family. But now that there's an egg in the house waiting to hatch, Mom can barely look up from knitting a tiny sweater, Dad is humming lullabies and Grandma Saurus "couldn't stop talking about the you-know-what." Feeling greener than his usual green self with jealousy, Ralphie hatches not an egg but a plan to bring the egg back to the stork, from whence he believes it came. A harrowing—and informative—trip to the stork's nest awakens some brotherly instincts in Ralphie, and he decides that his family's egg (eventually a little sister) is worth keeping. In her children's book debut, Rubin demonstrates a light touch while treading on some complicated childhood emotional territory. She paints Ralphie in true kid-like fashion, sorting through confusion, unhappiness and a change of heart. Chipper ink-and-watercolor compositions depict a cozy home and happy-faced family that could stand in for the country cousins of Lyle the Crocodile. Ages 4-7. (May)