A delightful meal with a big extended family becomes a free-for-all when one particularly excitable baby joins the fun.

Family dinner, set the table,
Forks and spoons and napkins too,
Knives and plates and water glasses,
Flowers, placemats, white and blue.
Wait a minute, where’s the baby?
Someone’s playing peek-a-boo!

What does it take to make a perfect family meal? Is it the forks, spoons, plates, and napkins? Maybe it’s sister’s lemonade, Papi’s guacamole, or delicious meatballs and ravioli eyed by a hungry pup. When it’s time to sit down and dig in, there’s one thing everybody agrees they need to do, “Baby, baby, pass the baby!”

This rollicking, rhyming picture book about one (rather large) diverse family dinner table captures the buzz and hum of a shared meal, with one adorably excitable baby at its center, eager to join the fun. With Pass the Baby, author Susanna Reich imbues her text with an undercurrent of harmony, warmth and inclusivity, complimented by ebullient illustrations by Raúl Colón.