Sydra Mallery

Caroline faces an unusual day where routine cannot be relied upon and a new baby sister joins her family. In the midst of anticipating changes in her life, organized Caroline finds herself disorganized, knocking things over, forgetting her socks, and unsure about the changes to come in her family.

Having flipped past the book jacket, I read on like any reader, discovering the source of all the commotion through illustration hints and textual clues. Normally one to stop and take a look at the jacket, I was pleased I could take my time to discover what was waiting. This would be a wonderful book to introduce when routine is interrupted.

A new baby arrives and the reader is only given small clues to learn that the baby sister has been adopted. The jacket lets us know and in the text her parents appear at school with the new child, "today they had a bundle from far, far away." Because of the infrequency with which the adoption is dealt with in the story, this book could resonate with any child welcoming a new sibling. Caroline appears to be a very put together child, dependable in the classroom, agreeable at the lunch table, frustrated to forget her socks etc, so this might also be a good book to read to a child experiencing frustration or anxiousness about things outside of their control. The illustrations made for a lovely experience with playful textures, a pleasing array of colors, and expressive faces throughout. I very much enjoyed the beautiful line work, popping the characters off the page, and defining the focus on every page.… (plus d'informations)

Caroline's usual school routine is all off today because today is a most unusual day -- her new baby sibling is arriving!

This book unwraps almost like a little mystery as we start to learn what will be unusual about Caroline's day through small hints here and there, sometimes in the text and sometimes in the illustrations. With the emphasis on Caroline rather than the baby, this is a good book for new (or expecting) siblings who are adjusting to having someone else in the spotlight.

The book jacket describes this is an adoption tale and the baby is mentioned as coming from 'far away' and is clearly a few months old (not a newborn) in the illustrations. However, it is never explicitly said that the baby is adopted. I have mixed feelings about that, but think that overall that means this title could work for families introducing a new baby either biologically or through adoption.… (plus d'informations)