Ah, Brave New World! I Hatched by Jill Esbaum

CRACK!

TA-DA!

WHAT'S NEW?

ME!

An ebullient baby bird wastes no time on transitions. He stretches as he emerges from his too-tight shell, checks out his gangly long legs and his very far-away feet, and, Hoo-boy, he's ready to go and go and go.

ONCE MY DOWN IS FLUFFED AND DRY,

I TAKE OFF RUNNING DON'T KNOW WHY.

Clearly he's a killdeer, born to run, and run he does, this way and that. Everything is new and wonderful. He studies his reflection in the pond and pronounces himself handsome, as a big green frog goggles up at this new critter. Wait! There's Mom, with lunch! Bugs and worms (a bunch!) Yum!

KIL-DEE, KIL-DEE DEEEEE-DEE!

This exuberant, peripatetic baby plover is full of life, full of himself, full of that joie de vivre that makes him sing out, run about, and inspect a part of himself he didn't know he had.

I STOP BECAUSE... LOOK OUT BELOW!

SOMETHING'S FALLING FROM MY... OH.

HERE'S A SHOCKER. PLEASE DON'T STARE,

BUT TAKE A LOOK! I'M ORANGE UNDER THERE!

This bird can't resist exloring everywhere, until he hears a familiar CRACK! It's a shell, just like his, and there's--his sister just peeping out of it. Hoo-boy, the things he's got to show her!

SISTER DEAR! LUCKY YOU,
I BEAT YOU HERE!

Jill Esbaum's just-emerged new I Hatched! (Dial, 2014) is the perfect picture of any baby just coming into his own, human or bird, full of enthusiasm and energy, exploring everything he sees before him, filled with the exuberance of living in a wondrous world. With joyous, evocative rhymes and Jen Corace's splendid illustrations which portray the heady, headlong urge to experience it ALL at once, this story captures the essence of youth, as invigorating as spring itself. This book is a bouncy bundle of energy just like its boisterous downy protagonist, one not to be missed this season.