Excerpt from My Name Is Leon by Kit De Waal, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Leon carefully feels the downy fluff on the baby's head.

"You've got blond hair and she's got blond hair. We've both got thin eyebrows and we've both got long fingers. Look."

Leon holds his hand up. And the baby opens his eyes. They are a dusty blue with a deep black center, like a big period. The baby blinks slowly and makes little kissing noises with his mouth.

"Sometimes she takes me to Auntie Tina up on the next landing. I can walk up to Auntie Tina's on my own but if you come, I'll have to carry you in the basket."

The baby won't be able to speak until it's much bigger so Leon just carries on.

"I won't drop you," he says. "I'm big for my age."

He watches the baby blowing him kisses and leans into the crib and touches the baby's lips with his fingertip.

His mom and Tina and the nurse come back all at the same time. Leon's mom comes straight over to the crib and puts her arm round Leon. She kisses his cheek and his forehead.

"Two boys," she says. "I've got two beautiful, beautiful boys."

Leon puts his arms round his mom's waist. She's still got a round belly like the baby was still in there and she smells different. Or maybe it's just the hospital. All the babyness made Leon's mom puffed out and red in the face and now she's near back to being herself again. Everything except the belly. He carefully touches his mother through her flowery nightie.

"Are there any more in there?" he says.

The nurse and Tina and his mom all laugh at the same time.

"That's men for you," says the nurse. "All charm."

But Leon's mom bends down and puts her face close to Leon.

"No more," she says. "Just me and you and him. Always."

Tina puts her coat on and leaves ten cigarettes on the bed for Carol to have later.

"Thanks, Tina," she says, "and thanks for having Leon again. Think I'll be out on Tuesday by the sound of it."

Carol shuffles up in the bed and the nurse puts the baby in her arms. He is making little breathing noises that sound like the beginning of a cry. Leon's mom begins to unfasten her cardigan.

"Isn't he lovely, Leon? You be good, all right?" and she kisses him again.

The whole of the baby's head fits into her hand.

"Come to Mommy," she whispers and cradles him against her chest.

Tina's flat is very different from Leon's but it's exactly the same as well. Both maisonettes have two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and a kitchen and living room downstairs.

Leon's house is on the ground floor of the first block by the divided highway and Tina's house is up on the next landing. The roadway has three rows of traffic on each side and the cars go so fast that they put a barrier up by the sidewalk. Now if Leon and Carol want to cross the road, they have to walk for ages to go to a crossing and press a button and wait until it starts to beep. The first time it was exciting but now it just makes it take longer to get to school in the morning.

Tina lets Leon sleep in the same bedroom as her baby. She always makes a bouncy, comfortable bed when Leon stays. She takes two cushions off the sofa and then wraps them in a blanket and puts a little baby's quilt over him. When he is lying down she throws some coats on top and covers everything over with a bedspread. It's like a nest or a den because no one would know he was there, like camouflage in the jungle. His bed looks like a pile of clothes in the corner but then "AAAGGGH," there is a monster underneath and it jumps up and kills you. Tina always leaves the light on in the hall but tells him he has to be very quiet because of her baby.

Her baby is big and wobbly and his name suits him. Bobby. Wobbly Bobby. His head is too big for his body and when Leon plays with him, he always gets some of Bobby's dribble on his hand. Bobby's Wobbly Dribble. Leon's brother won't be like Bobby and just suck on his plastic toys all day and get his bib soaking wet. He won't topple over on the sofa under the weight of his big head and just stay there till someone moves him. Leon always sits Bobby up but then Bobby thinks it's a game and keeps on doing it.

Excerpted from My Name Is Leon by Kit De Waal. Copyright © 2016 by Kit De Waal. Excerpted by permission of Simon & Schuster. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.