Such good news: after being waaaay too long out of print, Steptoe's consummate book for the very young is once again available--and as both a hardcover picture book and a board book. Steptoe ingeniously uses only seven distinct words to tell his relatable sibling-dynamics tale, with the story's significant drama, emotion, and humor carried by the riveting pictures. Welcome back, Baby!

PreS-Gr 1 Steptoe returns to the themes of his earliest bookssimple family interactions. Here, a brother tries to construct a building block castle while his play-penned baby brother does all he can to upset the process, including using a teddy bear as a weapon of disruption and destruction of the castle. Big broth er's anger is quickly melted by a sponta neous hug and kiss from baby brother, who then joins in rebuilding. Text is mini mal. The story is told through the softly shaded warm-toned pencil drawings. Steptoe is a master at depicting emotions in expressive faces, especially those of children. The effect here is softer and more evocative than in some of his earlier works. The incident portrayed is ex tremely simple, yet so true to childhood sibling experience, making this book as universally appealing and well-crafted as folklore. It is also heartwarming and re freshing to see such a loving exchange between two brothers. Heide Piehler, Shorewood Public Library, Wis.