The Baby Beast

December 1, 2018
One morning the solitary Beast finds a big, egg-shaped surprise waiting on his doorstep."Please look after me" reads the taped-on note, and so Beast does--though nearly burying it in the garden, dropping it on the table, and letting it roll away down a mountain seems a rough-and-tumble sort of care. Fortunately, the resilient egg rolls right into a hospital, where Dr. Yoko, an "eggspert," supplies the Beast with a checklist outlining a more responsible sort of care...and in due course, after much manual-reading and laying in of supplies, Beast has his world rocked by the arrival of little Baby Beast. Cue a new parenting-skills learning curve, but in no time Beast is deftly changing diapers, putting Baby Beast into a onesie, sharing a storybook, and tucking the hairy mini-me into bed. His reflection that sometimes "the biggest surprises are the best" then gets a punchline when, in the final scene, he finds two eggs on his doorstep. Beast makes a loving, model, enthusiastic single dad, but even younger readers are apt to wonder at his lack of curiosity about the egg's origin, not to mention the total absence of mother Beast(s) in this scenario. Beast and Baby Beast are black, hairy haystacks with limbs, but along with lots of comfy domestic details, Judge tucks both light- and dark-skinned human figures into his simple cartoon illustrations.In its own simplistic, sexist way, a lighthearted bit of behavior modeling. (Picture book. 5-8)

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March 1, 2019
Preschool-G Judge brings his charming Beast back for another humorous story, after The Snow Beast (2015). In this entry, Beast unexpectedly gets an egg on his front step, but he's new to the nature of nurturing and makes many mistakes. A long walk outside is too cold, and a trip up the mountain is a near disaster! But a lucky tumble into a hospital leads Beast to Dr. Yoko (an "eggspert," of course), who teaches him how to properly care for his egg. Dutifully, Beast follows the instructions, which ultimately leads to a loving bond. But when the egg hatches, he's dismayed to see the shell in pieces on the floor! That is, until he sees a baby Beast?an adorably small version of himself?and immediately falls in love. Judge's oblivious, naive Beast?a shaggy Sasquatch-like creature with glowing yellow eyes?will surely elicit giggles as he stumbles through his new responsibilities in the bold, colorful, wryly humorous cartoon illustrations. This wonderful story about parenthood, bonding, and adjusting to change will pair well with Brian Lies' Gator Dad (2016).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)