Hostile Takeover! The Bossier Baby by Marla Frazee

From the moment his sister arrives... the Boss Baby had a feeling change was in the air.

Boss Baby has ruled the executive suite for a long time. His dark power onesie and skinny tie show he's all business, but suddenly it seems his staff (Mom and Dad) have conspired to carry out a hostile takeover, in the form of a new baby sister. In her no-nonsense black onesie and baby-safe pearls, she's swiftly moving into the corner office.

She is bossier than Bossy Baby has ever been. And she's set to carry out a total restructuring of the corporation...

"... from the top down!"

She revels in the perks of her position....

Organic catering service (mother's milk on tap)

Aromatherapy (dirty diapers whisked away by subcontractor Tidee Didee)

Stress management (an assortment of stylish pacifiers)

And her ride is the Cadillac of exec baby carriages.

There's no doubt that Bossy Baby has been demoted, kicked downstairs by a baby sister, who is clearly the Bossier Baby. He's definitely a disgruntled employee and opts for a bit of industrial sabotage.

He slips out his professional onesie in public, but Mom doesn't give him a glance. He pees into the park flowers, but Dad doesn't notice.

...the CEO and staff paid no attention to him.

No matter what he did!

The Boss Baby has clearly been terminated, forced into early retirement. He tosses his briefcase down and rips off his green eyeshade. He goes to his room and crouches in a corner for a good cry.

But the CEO knew what to do. (She wasn't CEO for nothing!)

The Bossier Baby crawls into his room, and when the old Baby turns around, she gives him the universal and irresistible "pick-me-up" gesture. Savvy in handling restiveness in the ranks, this CEO knows how to handle her human resources, and in the Caldecott-winning Marla Frazee's clever follow-up to her hit, The Boss Baby (Classic Board Books), her just published The Bossier Baby (Beach Lane Books, 2016) will have the gross sales chart heading on up.

Frazee's cleverly comic 1950s-retro setting is perfect for this spoof of both corporate takeovers and the newborn blues, a dandy pairing with her first book for a mock-sophisticated look at the new baby syndrome. Along with its clever premise, Frazee's prize-winning artwork finds its metier in her stylized and stylish gouache and pencil illustrations for this book. "Someone give Frazee a raise!" says Kirkus in a starred review.

Autocratic Management: The Boss Baby by Marla Frazee

FROM THE MOMENT THAT THE BABY ARRIVED...

IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT HE WAS THE BOSS.

When this baby shows up, dressed in a natty black drop-seat onesie with spiffy white shirt and tie, toting a formidable briefcase, these parents know that their CEO has taken charge of management. He sets up his office, his "desk" the circular tray of his walker, and demands 24/7 hustle from the "staff," his increasingly pooped parents.

HE CONDUCTED MEETINGS.

LOTS AND LOTS OF MEETINGS.

MANY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.

This boss demands his executive perquisites--drinks to order summoned around the clock, his own spa for relaxation, his private jet, and a personal gym for his workouts. In true administrative style, his interoffice communications are virtually unintelligible. The Boss is happy, but worker morale is definitely at a statistical low.

THEN, ONE DAY ALL ACTIVITY GROUND TO A HALT. THE BOSS SURVEYED HIS SURROUNDINGS, EYEBALLED HIS WORKERS, AND FROWNED.

HE CALLED A MEETING. THE STAFF DID NOT RESPOND.

It looks like employee insubordination. The parental workers are apparently on a sit-down strike. In fact, they're slumped in an exhausted slumber on the couch.

When all else fails, The Boss comes to an executive decision. The usual communication media are obviously ineffective. He tries a new, more employee-sensitive management style:

MA-MA? DA-DA?

Weary new parents and even older brothers and sisters will instantly recognize the imperious management style adopted by all newborns in Caldecott Award-winning author/illustrator Marla Frazee's just published The Boss Baby (Beach Lane Books, 2010). The perfect book for new parents or parent-to-be, anyone who's ever spent time around a new baby will recognize this scenario, and Frazee's retro-stylized comic illustrations of the boss baby, his "desk" adorned with his intercom (baby monitor) and beverages (bottles), his spa a bubbly baby bathtub, and his executive jet an airplane-shaped baby swing seat are a real hoot. Lots of laughs here for all the family.

SuperDuper Stink Detector! Kid Amazing Vs. The Blob by Josh Schneider

One day, while practicing his letters, Jimmy is interrupted by an extremely annoying howl. And, right on cue, there's the emergency catastrophe alarm! Jimmy rushes to the closet and--whoosh!--a secret door opens.

What could make a scholarly kid suddenly morph into a mightily amazing superhero? It's the sound of alarm that galvanizes him to grab his super suit and power gear, and sniff out the source of the wilting odor wafting through the house. What deadly force has such power?

Our hero dashes into his secret elevator, which takes him to ... (No, not a telephone booth...) a secret underground redoubt, where he dons his protective supersuit, complete with red rubber dishwashing gloves! He's ready to report to the Commissioner.

The Commissioner is washing dishes at the sink.

"What is it, Commissioner?" asks Kid Amazing.

"Jimmy--" says the Commissioner. "Kid Amazing," corrects Kid Amazing.

"Kid Amazing," says the Commissioner. "Hear that howling? Could you please see what's going on?"

An evil giant robot? Those space lobsters again? No, only one thing could howl such an annoying howl.

Kid Amazing's arch-nemesis, the Blob!

Kid Amazing breaks out his secret robo-sniffer and tracks the terrible scent to its source--the lair of The Blob. Opening the door, Kid Amazing is almost overcome. It's the Blob's ultimate weapon, the mega monstrous cloud o' stink!

But Kid Amazing is more powerful than any stench. He whips out his own secret weapons, his atomizer of de-stinkifying spray and his wonder wipes, which overcome the smell and the slime, and faces the Blob on her throne bravely. Her horrible howl is almost unhear-ably unbearable, but courageous Kid Amazing knows one more trick to silence The Blob, and he spots what he needs beneath her throne.

The Blob's howl neutralizer.

Kid Amazing swiftly stops her gob with the devilishly clever device. His work here is done.

Every mom (er, Commissioner) needs a Kid Amazing who knows how to strategically deploy a pacifier now and then, and in Josh Schneider's forthcoming Kid Amazing vs. the Blob (Houghton Mifflin Clarion Books, 2017), it's big brother Jimmy on the job, even offering a recommendation that the Commisioner supply a new "stink-containment unit" to the Blob's bottom.

Schneider's narration is appropriately serio-comic, as befits a superhero of such courage and quick thinking, even if Mom does softly suggest that he stop calling his sister The Blob, but with tongue well in cheek Schneider's spoof of caped crusaders comes off with a well-placed smidgen of deadpan dirty diaper parody. Schneider's artwork is bold and bright, with sly touches, as Jimmy's baby sister's howls of AAAAAAAAA wallpaper the entire house with their magnitude, and his final page pictures his bare-bottomed baby sister waving a clean diaper frantically as she seeks out the Commissioner for the final solution to the case. Comic and clever, this one will produce paroxysms of knowing giggles from big brothers and big sisters all over, with a novel twist on the superhero trope to boot.

For more sibling stories, share this one with Marla Frazee's big hits, the source for the movie Boss Baby, now playing at your local cineplex, The Boss Baby and The Bossier Baby. (Read my reviews here.)

Josh Schneider's earlier books include Everybody Sleeps (But Not Fred) (see my 2015 review here) and Tales for Very Picky Eaters.

Tough Chick! Feminist Baby by Loryn Brantz

FEMINIST BABY CHOOSES WHAT SHE WEARS!

IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, SHE DOESN'T CARE!

She wears pink, but she also wears blue. Either one will do.

And when she wants to get down and dirty, it may be a no-pants day. And when she wants to play, she wears a no-nonsense diaper, and nothing else--except for her little pink hairbow, of course.

Of course, when she does get fancied up, she's an eclectic dresser. Who says you can't wear a necktie with a tutu? Or a helmet with high heels?

She plays with dolls AND cars, and she doesn't mind making a passel of noise drumming on the pots and pans while she's at it.

In her popular new board book, Loryn Brantz even has her strong-minded baby tie on a bandana and bare her biceps in a Rosie the Riveter pose that shows Feminist Baby is ready to get the job done, in her run-away hit, Feminist Baby (Disney Press, 2017). In a fun spoof of feminist tropes, Brantz' cute little protagonist takes it all in her stride. Truth to tell, babies won't exactly get the parody of power dressing, but tots will still love Brantz' brash babe who shows she has a mind of her own. Pair this one with Marla Frazee's hit (and now movie) The Boss Baby (Classic Board Books) and especially its sequel, in which Boss Baby meets more than his match in his pink-clad sibling. (Read reviews here).