Before Baby Brains is born, his mother reads to him, plays him tapes of music and languages, and even turns up the TV when the news comes on. His parents are thrilled when he finally arrives but more than a little shocked on their first day home from the hospital. In the morning they find him reading the newspaper. By afternoon he’s fixing the car. “We certainly have a bright one here,” says Mr. Brains, a master of understatement. Soon news gets out about their amazing, unusual baby. It’s not long before Baby Brains (a practicing doctor at two weeks of age) has trained for a mission into space. But on his very first space walk, he looks around at the “vast starlit sky” with “the whole world in front of him,” and he responds like any baby when the center of their universe has shifted: “I want my mommy!” Simon James’s sparkling, tongue-in-cheek story is a delight. (Ages 4–8)

Simon James's story about the smartest baby in the world will have little ones howling with laughter and may have big ones smiling wryly with self-recognition.

It's never too early to start bringing up the smartest baby in the whole world. So thinks the expectant Mrs. Brains, who reads to the baby inside her tummy every night and plays music and language tapes to her baby during the day. And soon enough, Mr. and Mrs. Brains have their very own Baby Brains! He reads the paper, fixes the family car, and works as a doctor in the local hospital. Now even the space program is calling on him. Is there anything Baby Brains can't do?