The perfect baby by Tony Bradman and Holly Swain

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Egmont, 2009. ISBN 9781405227551.
No matter how much preparation they do, one of the key worries of parents bringing home a new baby is how the older siblings will respond. In this very funny story, Lucy is most unimpressed when her parents bring Baby William home. He didn't do much and what he did do was irritating. He slept, he cried, he fed, he made some disgusting noises and smells and then went back to sleep again. So it was decided that William had to be given back to the hospital. Although her parents were disappointed they didn't argue and off they went. At the hospital the doctor in charge of the New Baby department was very helpful and he took William back and let Lucy's family have a second baby. And then a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, a sixth, a seventh . . . But none of them were quite right for Lucy.
This is a clever story that would really resonate with new big sisters and big brothers. I'm sure there were times when Miss 5 would have liked to have traded her little sister in, but now nine months later they are the best of friends. 'She's perfect,' she declares, and I'm sure Lucy says the same now, too.
A must-have to give to parents - I'm sure they could get some great ideas about how to cope with this tricky problem.
Barbara Braxton

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