ALA Booklist (Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2019)

Colorful, graphic-style art and rhyming lines explore being new through various stages of childhood. Following a cheery opening ello, you! / You are new . . . / What can you do?," a lengthy litany ensues, from "peer" to "snooze" to "peekaboo," illustrated by babies in a wide array of skin tones. Then, with "Look at you, / You've grown so tall. / Soon you won't be / New at all," the book shifts toward highlighting progressively older children; and future-tense assertions, like "You'll learn new games," emphasize different ways to consider being "new." All concludes with affectionate sentiment that "when you love and you're loved," you'll be new. Animated couplets and stanzas, in oversize, bold font, incorporate lively, occasionally slant rhymes (e.g., "adventures" and "family member"), and Knisley's eye-catching, cartoonish figures, with spare line-and-dot facial expressions, portray familiar scenarios, from being carried to playing musical instruments. Occasional views of caregivers lend a comforting presence. While the target audience may be a bit broad, this upbeat, reassuring offering will likely be an enjoyable read for adults and children to share.

Horn Book (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

Lighthearted direct-address rhymes describe the things a new baby can do. Colorful digital-collage illustrations show cute blob-shaped babies with a variety of skin tones, their actions and emotions easy to read as they grow and learn. Their accomplishments may seem small, but they're monumental for young ones (and their grownups) and reassuringly portrayed for all: "You might not know just what to do... / That's okay when you are new."

Kirkus Reviews

A bookish, warm welcome to a new baby, and more.Knisley's colorful, digital collage illustrations depict diverse babies with different skin tones and hair colors, although framing scenes in the opening and closing spreads center on a pink-skinned, blond baby coded as male with a blue outfit. These babies, and occasional adults and children, are all depicted against the stark white of the page. Some skin and hair colors, like the first child's very pink skin and some green coifs, are decidedly unnatural, but the overall impact is one of a broad range of humanity so that the direct address of the text can aim for universal resonance. "You can fit in tiny spots. / You get carried quite a lot! // You wear little baby shoes. / It's very cute when you are new," reads representative text, printed in full caps, with selected words highlighted in colors that appear in illustrations. A twist partway through the book saves it from being just another baby-shower gift by acknowledging the ways people continue to be "new" after babyhood—when we "try new things," go to "new places," and meet "new folks," for example. This offers a welcome enrichment of a well-worn picture-book theme, concluding with the affirming notion that "when you love… / and you're loved, too… // just like that, you are new."A new-baby book that feels new. (Picture book. 0-4)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Cartoonist Knisley makes her solo picture book debut with a hearty welcome to the new babies of the world: -Hello, you! You are new. When you-re new... what can you do?- Working in a bold graphic design style, she depicts babies of different ages and backgrounds observing and interacting with their environments (-You take baths, wash off the grime, then get cuddled. Cozy time!-). Developmental stages change as the pages turn, and unconventional color combinations render the children with blue, purple, and cherry red hair and bring a friendly, modish aesthetic to the pages. It-s a vivacious celebration of new arrivals and the many wonders to explore. Ages 4-6. (Mar.)