What's Inside Your Tummy, Mommy? (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: What's Inside Your Tummy, Mommy? Elizabeth Bush Cocovini, Abby; What's Inside Your Tummy, Mommy?; written and illus. by Abby Cocovini;. Holt, 2008; 20p Paper ed. ISBN 978-0-8050-8760-4 $8.95 Ad 3-7 yrs Parents who can make it past the conventional but inaccurate usage of "tummy" ("Inside a mommy's tummy is a special place called her womb") may find that this oversized title, with simplified explanations and life-size illustrations, could be a useful guide to prenatal development for curious siblings. Month by month double-page spreads feature a fairly true-to-life sketch of a (fairly slim) mama's ever-expanding belly, with a superimposed drawing of the newcomer growing inside: "Month 4, Weeks 14 to 18, The baby is getting fatter and its hair is growing. It's starting to hear! But only things from inside its mommy, like . . . her heart thumping . . . her blood flowing . . . and her food being swallowed." There are also a fair number of unexplained observations, such as "The baby pees 15 times a day," which leave parents on their own to field questions. When readers and listeners reach day 280, week forty, on the timeline that runs along the bottom of the pages, it's time for the big event, and a fold-down flap reveals the baby in head-down position, ready to make its debut, beneath the exhortation, "Push! Push! Push! Push!" There's no talk of how the baby got in there, not much about how it gets out, and with the baby's legs coyly crossed in each drawing, no hint of which gender it will be—which translates to just enough information for many children, but lots of BIG queries from more insistent tykes. Consider this as a streamlined alternative to Robie Harris' It's NOT the Stork! (BCCB 10/06). Copyright © 2008 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois