The Upagainstitt family is Mama and Papa and five children: three boys (biggish, medium, and smallest) and two girls (not-so-big and littlest-of-all). Then the children find a baby in a tumbleweed. Everyone is enamored of her except the littlest-of-all girl. “She’s a wild-all-over baby ... put her back.” And truly, this baby is a handful. She hates baths but loves to eat with abandon. She’d rather jump on the furniture than lie quietly in bed. She’s almost too much for them, but everyone loves her except littlest-of-all girl. “Name her Sauerkraut,” she suggests. Anna Myers’s tale about a warm, loving family and a youngest sibling unhappy about being displaced isn’t an unfamiliar plotline, but her story is fresh, original, and full of delight. (Ages 4–8)

A large, loving family in the 1930s Dust Bowl finds a “tumbleweed baby”—a wild baby—in the plains near their cozy farm home. The baby’s new siblings discover the ways she fits and doesn’t fit into the family, ultimately deciding that her wildness makes her one of them. The rhythm and voice of the text make this feel like a classic tall tale, and it pairs perfectly with the dreamy, warm art from master illustrator Charles Vess.