Ralphie and the Swamp Baby by Vicky Rubin, Clementine Paddleford

Product Details

Synopsis

Ralphie hurried home from school, happily clutching his mud-wrestling trophy. Mom and Dad would be so proud!

Getting a new sibling is never easy-especially when it's an egg!

Unfortunately Ralphie's parents don't seem nearly as interested in his prize as he'd hoped. They are too excited about the new egg they're hatching. But Ralphie isn't at all sure he wants a baby brother or sister, especially one that gets all the attention. He has got to do something about that egg!
When Ralphie's plan goes hilariously wrong, his doting family helps him realize that there's more than enough love to go around. Maybe having a new sibling won't be so bad after all.

Annotation

Unhappy at the prospect of a new brother or sister joining his family, Ralphie, a young alligator, sets out into the swamp in search of a stork to whom he can return the egg.

Publishers Weekly

A young alligator addresses some powerful feelings in this perceptive tale about sibling rivalry. As an only child, Ralphie has always enjoyed lots of attention from his family. But now that there's an egg in the house waiting to hatch, Mom can barely look up from knitting a tiny sweater, Dad is humming lullabies and Grandma Saurus "couldn't stop talking about the you-know-what." Feeling greener than his usual green self with jealousy, Ralphie hatches not an egg but a plan to bring the egg back to the stork, from whence he believes it came. A harrowing-and informative-trip to the stork's nest awakens some brotherly instincts in Ralphie, and he decides that his family's egg (eventually a little sister) is worth keeping. In her children's book debut, Rubin demonstrates a light touch while treading on some complicated childhood emotional territory. She paints Ralphie in true kid-like fashion, sorting through confusion, unhappiness and a change of heart. Chipper ink-and-watercolor compositions depict a cozy home and happy-faced family that could stand in for the country cousins of Lyle the Crocodile. Ages 4-7. (May) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Biography

Vicky Rubin received her B.A. in history from Barnard College and a master's in art education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She studied illustration at the School of Visual Arts and with New Yorker cartoonist Stuart Leeds. She would like to live near a swamp, but for now she lives in New York City. This is her first book.