What Makes a Baby

Originating as a Kickstarter project in 2012, Silverberg and Smyth’s guide to babies and birth is as notable for what isn’t in it as what is: sperm, eggs, midwives, and cesareans are mentioned, but references to mothers, fathers, boys, or girls are absent, allowing the book to be used by families with a variety of configurations and circumstances. Smyth’s cartoons recall the work of Todd Parr, with a bright crayon-box palette. Silverberg’s writing is informative yet sufficiently general to let adults tailor the accompanying conversations as needed (“When grown ups want to make a baby they need to get an egg from one body and sperm from another body”). A useful springboard for conversations about childbirth, no matter the family. Ages 2–6. (May)