Title: Wow! What a Trip!
Subtitle: My Journey to meet my family
Author: Susan M. Tarrant
Illustrations by: Susan Lavalley
Publisher: Wow! Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9994314-0-5
Pages: 48
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book / Parenting
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review Star
Awarded to Books of Excellent Merit
Wow! What a Trip! My journey to meet my family is Wow! What a great book! Author Susan M. Tarrant, along with the illustrations by Susan Lavalley, has hit it over the fence with a perfect balance of words and images. The POV (point-of- view) of an embryo growing into a fetus and then a new family member; experiencing the wonders of life and telling it from its first-person narration is truly creatively amazing. From the imaginary thoughts of a baby within the mother’s womb, having the sensations of food, sound, touch and happy feelings are done so wonderfully that I was truly entertained and astonished at the creativity laden within these artfully ambitious pages. This book is pregnant with loving ways to help explain to siblings what is going on inside of “Mommy” and simultaneously explains how their life begins when they were the baby inside.
With an intrinsic sense of humor, themes of family love and joy, along with the medical awareness of the various stages of a growing baby, the precious life of a newborn is celebrated from the very point of conception to the arrival on the baby’s birthday! Yes, the POV from being inside the womb is fantastic and very original. There very well may be other books written from the POV of the fetus, but frankly I have not seen them; thus making Wow! What a Trip! My journey to meet my family – the premier enjoyment experience for my reading pleasure of how a person thinks before being born.
The book ends with a potpourri of additional information and subject matter for discussion and further enhancement of a sibling’s knowledge as to what to expect with the arrival of their new sister or brother. I found the timeline of the fetus’ growth, synced with the storyline pages, once again being defined by the POV of the baby growing inside, being very interesting. The book’s galley has generous space allocated for putting family photos and writing journal entries; an ideal way to create more than just a book. In this fashion, Susan M. Tarrant created an entire project to engulf the moments of pregnancy into a journey of love and adventure. In noticing the other titles of her books, all beginning with Wow! What a Trip! brings this first of a series into what is definitely the best baby shower gift to a family with slightly older siblings to all enjoy. After all, a book with “Wow!” in its title has a lot to live up to for supporting the “Wow! factor,” and Tarrant achieves it in stride. I hope to see stacks of these books in the maternity sections of all major retail outlets, or given out at pregnancy support groups, and a feverishly active web portal for sales! This would be the perfect gift for any couple planning to start a family and a must read for every pregnant woman.
