You Are New

February 1, 2019
A bookish, warm welcome to a new baby, and more.Knisley's colorful, digital collage illustrations depict diverse babies with different skin tones and hair colors, although framing scenes in the opening and closing spreads center on a pink-skinned, blond baby coded as male with a blue outfit. These babies, and occasional adults and children, are all depicted against the stark white of the page. Some skin and hair colors, like the first child's very pink skin and some green coifs, are decidedly unnatural, but the overall impact is one of a broad range of humanity so that the direct address of the text can aim for universal resonance. "You can fit in tiny spots. / You get carried quite a lot! // You wear little baby shoes. / It's very cute when you are new," reads representative text, printed in full caps, with selected words highlighted in colors that appear in illustrations. A twist partway through the book saves it from being just another baby-shower gift by acknowledging the ways people continue to be "new" after babyhood--when we "try new things," go to "new places," and meet "new folks," for example. This offers a welcome enrichment of a well-worn picture-book theme, concluding with the affirming notion that "when you love... / and you're loved, too... // just like that, you are new."A new-baby book that feels new. (Picture book. 0-4)

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March 1, 2019

Baby-Toddler-Sweet illustrations using digital collage show babies with various skin and hair colors learning and growing. The text begins with a question: "Hello, You! You are new. When you're new... What can you do?" Seeing, tasting, hearing, being carried, taking naps, riding in a wagon, and experiencing an array of emotions are some of the activities pictured in large, clear illustrations. The rhyming text, which appears in bold black block print with some words highlighted in other colors has a fine meter but stumbles a bit with a couple of rhymes. Girl babies, boy babies, brown babies, pink babies, yellow babies, tan babies with hair in blue, brown, purple, and teal demonstrate all there is to learn when one is new. VERDICT A perfect lapsit read-aloud or a good pick for older children who have recently welcomed a new sibling into their home.-Maryann H. Owen, Oak Creek Public Library WI

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 18, 2019
Cartoonist Knisley makes her solo picture book debut with a hearty welcome to the new babies of the world: “Hello, you! You are new. When you’re new... what can you do?” Working in a bold graphic design style, she depicts babies of different ages and backgrounds observing and interacting with their environments (“You take baths, wash off the grime, then get cuddled. Cozy time!”). Developmental stages change as the pages turn, and unconventional color combinations render the children with blue, purple, and cherry red hair and bring a friendly, modish aesthetic to the pages. It’s a vivacious celebration of new arrivals and the many wonders to explore. Ages 4–6.

May 1, 2019
Knisley chronicled her wedding in her 2016 adult graphic-novel memoir Something New; her latest, Kid Gloves (2019), is about pregnancy; and concurrently she has authored her first picture book?about a newborn baby. In lilting, lighthearted rhyme, the direct-address text describes the things a new baby can do: You can doze and nap and snooze. / It makes you sleepy, being new?You can open wide and yell. / Sometimes you make funny smells. The block-letter font, with occasional words in different colors for emphasis or humor, is easy on the eyes?a plus for tired parents. Spare and colorful digital collage illustrations, with well-placed shadows for dimension, show cute blob-shaped babies with a variety of skin tones against clean white backgrounds, their actions and emotions easy to read as they grow and learn throughout toddlerhood, big-sibling-dom, new-school-age, and more. Their accomplishments may be small-seeming, but they're monumental for young ones (and their grownups) and reassuringly portrayed for all: You might not know just what to do? / That's okay when you are new. elissa Gershowitz

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2019
Lighthearted direct-address rhymes describe the things a new baby can do. Colorful digital-collage illustrations show cute blob-shaped babies with a variety of skin tones, their actions and emotions easy to read as they grow and learn. Their accomplishments may seem small, but they're monumental for young ones (and their grownups) and reassuringly portrayed for all: "You might not know just what to do... / That's okay when you are new."

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)