Nine Months: Before a Baby is Born

My daughter, and my husband and I all adore this book! We went for our first sonogram last week and the page in the book that correlates to that appointment was so informative for my almost five year old daughter. She knew what to expect and even loves that inost pages the little girl has her own little pretend baby accompanying her.The artwork is beautiful, the seasons are actually perfectly aligned with our due in November second child, and I cannot share anough about how much I love this book. Simple sentences, so much beauty and joy, and the life size picture of the baby in utero are just stunning.I would give this ten stars if I could, and will recommend and purchase for anyone I know that is expecting and already has a little one to share the joy with.

My toddler loved this book! He was under 2 (maybe about 20 months) when I first started reading it to him. The very first time I read it to him he pointed to a picture of the barely developed embryo and said, "baby!" Children can understand more than we give them credit for. He would ask to read this book daily, sometimes over and over again. The pictures are realistic and drawn to scale. It was fun to be able to look at the pictures and say, "the baby in Mommy's belly looks like this baby, but it's going to grow and look like this one, and then get even bigger and look like this one!" I think this book really helped my toddler to be able to grasp what was happening in my belly and that there would be a baby coming soon.

We borrowed this book from the library and liked it so much that we bought a used copy to keep. My son had become very interested in pregnancy and birth and I love the visuals that this book provides so he could see how a baby grows! It’s sweet watching the family prepare for their new arrival. The drawings on each page are beautiful and offer a ton of visual interest and fun talking points. Not as informative regarding sperm and egg content, but there are plenty of other books for that, this one offers the best drawings for baby development and my son loves the extra information included for each month in the back!

Nine Months Before a Baby is Born is information packaged in delight. Each page spread covers one month in the development of a fetus while mirroring what the family is doing in preparation. It’s perfect for parents to explain what’s really happening in Mommy’s belly to an expectant big brother or sister. Paul’s sparse, yet joyful words, and Chin’s vivid illustrations are a fitting match for showing so much science and family dynamics in the constrained parameters of a picture book.Extensive back matter is included, which can help inform the more curious or older expectant big sibling of more detail that happens as a baby grows. Two pages are dedicated to each page spread in the text. For example, in the text for the second month the text says: “Arms, legs . . . tail too?” and the back matter associated with this page explains how the tail reabsorbs to become our tailbone.Further back matter lists Nine Amazing Things Most Babies Can Do Before They’re Born, a chart of human vs. animal gestation periods, and a page of What If . . .?, which includes a paragraph on when something goes wrong. A LOT of information is packaged into this picture book and it’s very well done.In every writing workshop I’ve been to, I’m told that a good picture book is a dance between the text and the illustrations. Nine Months Before a Baby is Born is a perfect dance. lisaconnors.wordpress.com

Pictures are beautiful. I love the facts and I am very pro life. My only complaint is the poor writing. It's an artistically beautiful and elegant book but the writing is lacking a lot.

Cutest lil book! Grandson loved it!

Gorgeous, informative illustrations help kids comprehend what's happening. Rhythmic, rhyming prose captures the feeling of waiting. Ten for ten would absolutely recommend and will be buying for future expecting friends with kids to prepare! Very approachable for young ones, specific enough and fact filled (at the back) for older, more inquisitor kids too.

Great book for first child expecting new sibling