By Maureen Tai, 12 December 2022

How do you welcome a baby brother or sister into the world? What words of wisdom can you dispense? (especially if you’re not that much older yourself, even if you look like your grandmother and your mother when they were your age, and you don’t think about it yet, but your children and grandchildren will possibly look like you when they become the age you are now). How do you tell your baby sibling about the small blue dot that is your home, your entire world, your universe? How do you explain the creations of Mother Nature (broccoli notwithstanding), the wonders of the human imagination, the marvel of being alive?

I’ll tell you how (and you don’t have to keep it a secret, in fact, you absolutely HAVE TO share this precious nugget of information): you pick up a lovely illustrated picture book called This Small Blue Dot (ages 3+) and you read it out loud – by yourself or with a grown-up – while gazing at the gorgeously pencil-drawn little girl with glasses on her black-hair-fringed face and admiring the crayon scribbles that look as if you could have drawn them (seriously!). When you’re done, you’ll feel this bubbly, happy feeling, and you’ll want to explore, and love, the world around you and everything in it! After all, that’s the whole point, isn’t it?