For children who are facing the arrival of a new sibling, Julius, the Baby of the World makes for great biblio-therapy. At first, big sister Lilly thought it might be fun to have a new baby in the family. But when her parents repeatedly coo "Julius is the baby of world"", Lilly's mouse hackles begin to rise. Soon the jealousy is too much for her, and she embarks on a rejection campaign that is hysterically funny, but also comforting for siblings who probably feel just as much resentment but would never go to Lilly's extremes. Kevin Henkes, creator of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse refuses to shy away from the truly powerful and sometimes dark feelings of children. Through bright watercolours and handwritten, cartoon-style dialogue, Henkes relishes Lilly's wickedness. For example, she delights in insulting her oblivious baby brother: ""If you were a food, you'd be a raisin,"" she whispers into his crib. ""If you were a number you'd be zero."" When she paints an elaborate family portrait, she leaves Julius out. When she throws a tea party, guess which baby doesn't get an invitation? But when a visiting cousin starts insulting baby Julius, we discover that the flip side of Lilly's intense jealousy is an even more powerful and lasting loyalty. ALA Notable Book, ALA Booklist Children's Editors' Choice, Horn Book Fanfare Honour List, Parent's Choice Honour for Literature. (Baby to Preschool) -- Gail Hudson "

 

This book is part of a book series called Picture Puffin .

There are 32 pages in this book. This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+). This book was published 1994 by Penguin Books Ltd .

A brand new author to the Puffin list, Kevin Henke's novels include The Birthday Room, Sun & Spoon and Words of Stone. Among his acclaimed picture books, many of which are published here in the UK, are the number one bestseller Wemberley Worried, the Caldecott Honor Book Owen and the charming Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Kevin Henkes lives in Madison, Wisconsin.