Sibling Book Review

May I begin this by saying this post is probably not for you, unless you're expecting your second child. Don't feel bad about not reading it cuz you're not obliged to. I get it and I'm not offended. It wouldn't be my cup of tea either.

If you're still reading, this is what I have for you. After doing some research on how to broach the "new baby" subject with a toddler, most books tell you to wait until there's about a month before the due date and then start talking about how your child will be a big brother/sister. If you tell your child more than 30 days out, you'll get badgered endlessly on when this baby is coming. As I've noticed I do get a couple thousand questions a day with regards to the baby, so I'm quite happy I waited until I did. I probably would've lost my mind had I had to repeat the due date countdown any longer. I can't wait for his "why" stage to fully kick in...EEEEK!

I thought the best way to bring this new change to my child's attention was to continue our evening tradition and read a bedtime story each night, only this time the story would focus on introducing a new baby into the family. I ordered a billion books from Amazon and put another couple thousand on hold from my favourite place, the Toronto Public Library. I skimmed each book before I read them aloud to my little guy, just to be sure of their appropriateness, and now I'm sharing my review of a "couple" of them, in case you're curious, or you are looking for any recommendations. I promise to try and keep each one short, sweet and succinct.

WAITING FOR BABY by Harriet Ziefert

Of all the books I ordered and put on hold, this is my son's FAVOURITE. The pictures are colourful, fun and relatable and the story is fantastic (mostly relatable to me because the mom on the cover is MASSIVE and one page discusses how the son watches the mommy's tummy get BIGGER AND BIGGER AND BIGGER. Something my son knows a heck of a lot about!) It has a little bit of a "Hungry Caterpillar" feel (going through each day of the week), talks about what the child does while he's waiting for the baby to arrive as well as includes a couple of super short songs that, once your child is familiar with them, will sing along to.

BABIES DON'T EAT PIZZA by Dianne Danzig

Meh is my overall review on this guy. This book is designed for kids a little older than my son (as indicated by the subtitle - "A Big Kids' Book About Baby Brothers and Baby Sisters" . I'm not sure why I didn't clue into this before I bought it...I found that the story goes into a little too much detail for my child's attention span. I mean, it explains what a womb is and where it's located, that the baby comes out through an opening between mom's legs (ugh! does my two year old need to know that really?) and all the activities that babies like to do in detail, etc. I also found that there were too many words on the page (again, my son apparently has the attention span of a gnat - which he's obviously inherited from me). I think this book would be fantastic for a child who was in school. Again, my child is obviously not its intended audience.

WAITING FOR BABY - Illustrated by Rachel Fuller

This book is part of the "New Baby" series. I guess they didn't get the memo that another book had already been called "Waiting for Baby"...or maybe they misplaced their thesaurus and couldn't come up with a different title. Nonetheless, this book is actually pretty okay. It's a good, sturdy board book, so my kid can throw it around and turn the pages without me cringing every time he grabs at it. The lines are more questions to start conversations with your child rather than tell a proper story, which is a bit cool. It's fun to hear what your toddler thinks about what's going on in your tummy.

MY NEW BABY - Illustrated by Rachel Fuller

Also part of the "New Baby" series. This book is a great continuation on what happens once this baby pops outta mom's belly and moves into the house. Again, it opens up dialogue between parent and child and hopefully answers some questions or at least sheds some light on what might happen when the new baby arrives.

I'M A BIG BROTHER - Joanna Cole

This one happens to be my favourite of the bunch, but of course, my opinion is generally not asked in this household when it comes to choosing stories, so we rarely read this one. Again, this story focuses on what happens after the baby arrives at the house and all the things that a big brother can do with the new baby. I REALLY like that it mentions being gentle (as my son's version of gentle and the general population's are two very different things - ask my poor cat!). This book also comes in the "I'm a Big Sister" version for those who have girls.

HELLO, NEW BABY! - Illustrated by Hideko Takahasi

This was a $1 jobbie that I picked up at Target when I was in Buffalo last year. Total impulse buy. I guess you get what you pay for, right? It's more of a story about how a big brother plays with his younger brother. It isn't really a book to "prepare" a child for a new baby...just a tale about two bros. Whatevs. Next book!

WHAT A GOOD BIG BROTHER - by Diane Wright Landolf

The cover is freaking you out, right? Cuz it's freaking me out too. Not sure how I bought it, cuz I'm the sort of person that TOTALLY judges a book by it's cover. The dude's ears are unreal and it looks like he's about to bite off one of those toes. Once you open the book, the images are a bit...um...odd...like page after page of decoupage with a couple of soft focus illustrations thrown in the mix. The story itself is nice enough...about a big brother who helps his family when his new baby sister arrives...but again, I've read it once, cuz I just couldn't get past the pix.

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Now don't get me wrong. My kid still has no clue what's in store for him in two weeks time...but at least he's getting the idea that other kids have baby brothers and sisters and the world doesn't end when they come home...whether it ends when our baby comes home is another story.

So, if you're expecting your second and you need some books to break your eldest in, let me know. I won't be needing any of these books after the next few weeks and would be happy to get them the hell outta my house. Maybe I should start my own crappy kids book swap? Million dollar idea? Perhaps!



Lastly, I just wanted to send a quick shout out to Tricia, Kyle and Emma. Congratulations on the birth of your baby boy! I can't wait to see pictures. Please fill me in on how life is going from one to two! Good luck!