Are You There, Baby Bear?

My daughter is 17 months old and I just bought this book for her a couple weeks ago. She absolutely loves it. I've been teaching her Baby Sign and she's picked up the sign for "bear" because of this book. (there are also other animals in the book that she likes to point at).The story line is adorable. I think it is a good way to introduce the concept of a new baby to the family to a young child, without going into a ton of detail about how it happens. We are expecting a baby when our daughter will be 21 months, and right now she cannot grasp that I have a baby in the tummy, but I think with more reading of this book that she will be able to learn about getting a new brother or sister.I haven't read any of the other books by the same author, I have only read this one. And as a stand alone book, I think it's wonderful.

Our family adored the first book about Alfie (When Will It Be Spring?) with Catherine Walters' gorgeous and clever illustrations of the bears' wild mountain world. The same beautiful art is featured in this book, with a similar charming plot focusing on Alfie's young naivete - this time wondering where his new baby brother or sister (still expected) might be. I find this one perhaps one notch less perfect than the first, but it still instantly ranked among our favorites. Little text, but rich enough with content and visual complexity to appeal to a wide range of ages.