Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Nine pithy, five-line stanzas trace a fetus's development in utero; the story also follows a Latinx family happily awaiting a baby's arrival. As the watercolor and gouache illustrations' left-hand pages track the fetus's transformation, right-hand pages show slice-of-life scenes of the mom, dad, and soon-to-be big sister. A clever, joyful celebration of the nine months leading up to a baby's birth, appended with further details about gestational development. Bib. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

What happens when a new baby is on its way? This touching book describes milestones both inside and outside of a mother's belly over the course of nine months.A small family consisting of a mother, a father, and a small girl (all people of color with light skin and black hair) are having a fine winter's day out. Meanwhile, detailed illustrations of a single egg and its divisions begin the story of what's happening inside the mother. Each page turn brings spare, poetic text that illuminates another month of the baby's development on the left side and that also complements the scenes unfolding on the right side: a new "big sister" T-shirt, seeing the ultrasound, putting together a crib. Captions also inform readers about the timeline of fetal development and sizes. As the mother's belly grows, the verso illustrations begin to expand, and by the eighth and ninth months, an actual-size painting of a fully developed fetus takes up most of the spread, while a grandmother arrives in the squished panel on the right. Then, finally, "Loved ones arrive": both baby and family. As usual, Chin's (Pie is for Sharing, 2018, etc.) watercolor-and-gouache paintings are exquisite, conveying both scientific details and a loving extended family. Four pages of backmatter about gestation and babies follow, including a sensitive paragraph on "What ifsomething goes wrong?"Children both young and old will be captivated by the details of fetal development and the story of a family preparing for and welcoming a new member. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 3-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.