Hegley the young horse is terribly excited because he has discovered his mum is having a baby. When he tells his chums, Pigmeal, Cowhide and Sheeply, they are less than impressed. Their mums are having babies too, and they have heard that 'babies pull tails'. Oh, thinks Hegley, and heads back to tell mum. However, on the way, he meets 'ten baby rabbits, nine baby guinea pigs, and eight baby kittens' and none of them try to pull his tail. His friends are still not convinced: 'babies bite', they say. But Hegley meets 'seven baby swans, six puppies and five chicks' and they don't bite. (At this point, it becomes clear this is a counting book as well as a story about babies.) Hegley rushes to tell his friends, but they all say that 'babies don't like big brothers and sisters'. All ends happily when Hegley gets home to find one loving baby sister, and also discovers that his friends are delighted with their new siblings. This is an imaginative approach to a child's concerns about a brother or sister joining the family, and the illustrations are fun too.