Once in a Lifetime: One Special Day by Lola M. Schaeffer

SPENCER WAS A BOY.

HE WAS STRONG.

Parents drive away, leaving Spencer for a visit to his happy grandmother's farm, a place just meant for boyhood adventures. Spencer revels in his outdoor fantasies, pulling a branch down to pick ripe apples with a bear, tall and strong enough to greet a giraffe from a treetop, fast enough to outrun a friendly horse, and wild and free enough to outrace a tiger.

But there's another reason for Spencer's visit to Grandmother's besides a chance for outdoor pretending.

Spencer's parents return, and his mother is hugging a small bundle, a baby!

Spencer is not just strong, fast, tall, and wild--he's...

A BIG BROTHER!

And Spencer the strong and wild can also be quiet and gentle, as he settles down to hold his new baby brother on his lap for the first time.

Lola Schaeffer's newest, One Special Day (A Story for Big Brothers and Sisters) (Hyperion, 2012), makes great use of the sweet and lovely illustrations of Jessica Meserve, which follow this family through the events of one very special day, closing with Spencer cuddling the new baby on a picnic cloth in the woods while his fantasy animals watch quietly from the trees and Mom, Dad, and Grandmother smile with happiness. A nicely insightful entry into the new-baby genre.