Big Bad Baby

April 14, 2014
Hale (Clark the Shark) and Breen (Pug and Doug) have such a similar go-broad-or-go-home comic aesthetic that it’s surprising they haven’t crossed collaborative paths before. Together, they come up with a hybrid of Honey, I Blew Up the Kid and The Incredible Hulk, starring an almost naked toddler whose bad mood transforms him from kewpie doll to holy terror. “Pausing only to slurp from his sippy cup, Big Bad Baby set out to take over the world!” proclaims Hale, While the ensuing havoc—not to mention the implications of a giant, filled diaper and a torrent of drool—are almost too horrible to contemplate, Breen has a good time doing so. A highly expressive pooch named Boris, deemed Baby’s “evil hench-dog,” is actually a shocked reader surrogate, and is almost as much fun to watch as Baby himself. A surplus of maniacal jokes and sound cues ought to win the hearts of older siblings who know just how bad babies can be. Ages 3–5. Author’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. Illustrator’s agent: Teresa Kietlinski, Prospect Agency.

April 1, 2014
We all know them--on the plane, on the train, in the car seat, after nighty-night: big bad baby. Little Sammy is positively cherubic--all pink and roly-poly with Kewpie-doll cowlick and goo-goo eyes--but given half a chance, he becomes Bad Baby. Applesauce too tart? Time to chase the cat with hair clippers. Nap delayed? Time to work some Jackson Pollack with the mustard squeeze bottle. But Bad Baby has his eyes on making a real statement. So he cobbles together a Monster Machine, and voila--a really big and bad baby emerges. He plays with trucks as if they were Matchbox toys, uses a lamppost as a baton and unleashes a hurricane-force belch. Not to mention the tsunami of drool. Police, firefighters, even the librarian--all are helpless before this diapered behemoth. That is, until the clothes drier finishes with his security blanket. Hale gives Breen plenty of room, supplying a rhythmically funny text that offers up one funny situation after another. Even as a towering Babyzilla, the giant tot retains his look of wide-eyed innocence. Bad Baby conducts his mayhem with so winning a grin on his puss, he's no threat--he's an entertainer (as long as he stays in the picture book). Don't rest too easy. "I'll be back!" intones our young Schwarzenegger. (Picture book. 3-5)

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May 1, 2014

PreS-Gr 2-Sweet Little Sammy is having a bad day, and no one knows exactly why. After chasing the cat and "redecorating" the kitchen and bedroom wall, he needs bigger badness to satisfy him. A Monster Machine transforms him into Big Bad Baby, whose BURP uproots trees and overturns cars. He strides down the highway, picking up trucks, drawing on the sides of buildings, and making a stinky mess in his diaper. Police, firemen, and even librarians are powerless to stop him. His resourceful mother follows on a bicycle and is aboard one of the helicopters that drops his giant blue blanky over him. Big Bad Baby becomes-at least outwardly-his own sweet self again. His mother snuggles him in her arms and says, "Big bad babies need love too." This is fortunate because the last page shows Sammy with a maniacal gleam in his eyes, planning to take over the world. Cartoon artwork done in watercolors and colored pencil capture the havoc the giant baby causes, and the expansive spreads are filled with humorous details.-Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN

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