'You're brand new, and you're perfect. You're demanding, but you're worth it.' So begins this unusual book about a baby arriving in a family. But these are animal families - rabbits, elephants, hedgehogs, pandas, pigs, alligators, turtles, owls and others. Going through the first two years of the babies lives, we see them, being carefully looked after because they are fragile, frustrated, frightened, refusing food, needing burping, learning new skills, making friends, and becoming bolder and braver: 'Your older now, but still my baby. You're loved... and always will be.' Charming and lovely for parents (who will recognise all the stages) as well as an older child, who will see what is coming when the new baby joins his or her family. At the end, the fact that the new baby will be loved just like he or she has been, in spite of the difficulties along the way, will be encouraging to a child facing new experiences. The illustrations are gentle, often funny and very relatable to parent and child alike.