I Am a Baby

Shea offers a slyly humorous take on life with a newborn in this wry picture book, pitched as much to parents as to kids. Clad in a blue sleeper and narrating via simple observations, a goldenrod-skinned baby obliviously repeats self-centered explanations of cause and effect. “Mommy is sleepy/ because I am a baby,” reads an early line as an exhausted mother, also portrayed with goldenrod skin, narrowly keeps the child from falling headfirst off the bed. “Daddy is clumsy,” is the announcement as the tan-hued father slips on a toy car. Similarly, Kitty’s “hiding” status, Mommy’s thirst (quenched with water and wine), and Grandma’s smiles are all reasoned as resulting “because I am a baby.” Digital drawings with a retro vibe contrast the infant’s gleeful disruptions with the haggard expressions of the beleaguered parents—humorously, if accurately, picturing the mixture of exhaustion and joy that defines early parenthood. Ages 2–5. (June)