By Mercer Mayer
Little Critter tries every way he knows to play with the new baby, finds out the baby can't do any of it yet, and works out what a big sibling is actually for.
There's a new baby at Little Critter's house, and he's ready to be a big brother. He tries to teach the baby to play ball, to ride, to do all the things he likes. None of it works, because the baby is too small to do anything but eat, sleep, and cry. Little Critter is a bit put out about it. Then he figures out the things that do work, making the baby laugh, being gentle, helping, and settles into being the big one. It's plain, warm, and told in the familiar Little Critter voice, with the tiny funny details tucked in the pictures that this series is loved for.
This is the reassuring, everyday one, built around the exact disappointment a lot of children hit first: the baby can't play. Little Critter works through the frustration in plain sight and lands somewhere solid, the small real jobs a big sibling can actually do. The familiar critter and the low-key humor make it easy for a wound-up child to take, and there's nothing sharp anywhere in it.