In Mario's (You Don't Always Get What You Hope For) familiar story, the girl narrator would prefer an iguana to her new baby brother. She is not amused by his "alien" looks, his commandeering of her former crib or his stinky diaper pail. She misses the time her mother would spend exclusively with her and prefers to play with her buddy Jason Rivera, who has "a swing set and a dog named Taco and six video games and NO BABY." Mario's stereotypical secondary characters sometimes detract from the realistic situations presented in the text, but the narrator is a sympathetic leading player, doing her best to remind her parents that she matters, too. Any overblown scenes are redeemed by the closing shots of a sister warming to her new sibling. All ages.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-K-When Mom and Dad bring home a new baby, big sister is not amused. Amid the commotion and disrupted routines, the unnamed little girl sulks, and in response to the adult assumption that she's glad to have a new brother, wishes she'd been given an iguana instead. The protagonist's mother is too busy to do things with her and her father, no matter how hard he tries, just can't braid her hair or make her lunch the way she likes it. Life is just too different. But finally, after many tribulations and much buildup, the baby smiles at her, and predictably, all is resolved happily. The lively, colored-pencil and watercolor illustrations are full of comic energy. They show a little girl who is pouty, angry, mischievous, and mugging for attention; her parents, who are simultaneously harassed, exhausted, and delighted; assorted visitors of different ages, depicted with a caricatural edge; and best friend Jason Rivera, who is perfectly happy with a tree fort and a dog and "NO BABY." Although the sister's attitude change may seem too sudden to be quite real, and some references will fly over the heads of young listeners ("Dad says he looks like Winston Churchill"), preschoolers with new siblings will enjoy this reflection of their own mixed feelings.
Marian Drabkin, Richmond Public Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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