Brother Brother, Sister Sister [Paperback]

Helen Dunmore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2001

Tanya has gone from being an only child to having four brothers and sisters in one fell swoop. Quads are a nightmare. The house is full of dirty nappies, and her parents are so shattered that her dad falls asleep at work.Which doesn't make his (ex) boss very happy. Tanya's diary seems to be the only thing that's listening to her any more.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-Tanya, an eighth grader, was used to being an only child. Then her mother had quadruplets-two boys and two girls. Now neither she nor her parents get much sleep and no one has time for much of anything beyond feeding, diapering, and rocking babies. Her exhausted father loses his job for dozing at his desk. When he shows up at her class play with crying babies, he not only embarrasses Tanya but also makes her angry. She feels that her parents no longer care about her. While she is feeling sorry for herself, she has a fight with her best friend. Soon she becomes friendly with a new girl who has a very different but not necessarily better home life. Written in diary format, this book tackles many of the feelings of an adolescent girl. Readers will be able to sympathize with Tanya as she comes to grips with change and learns to control her actions and emotions. A well-written and entertaining read.
Barb Lawler, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Hippo/Scholastic (October 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439994152
• ISBN-13: 978-0439994156
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,662,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brothers, sisters, girlfriends, bottles, diapers... poopee!, February 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Brother Brother, Sister Sister (Paperback)

A little bit of sunshine didn't hurt anyone. I have come back to the bright days of primary school, with all those important affairs, and that indescribable feeling of being able to live forever just as I was. I preferred to read Jules Verne, "Three Musketeers", "Winnetou" or Moomins, but then I never shied away from so-called girls' books. Now I can boast myself that I read all books of the "Anne of Green Gables" series when I was small. Now, having fallen in love with Helen Dunmore's prose (I have recently read a good old fashioned novel, "A Spell of Winter", by this author), I decided to look what else she might have written. I didn't hesitate much to buy "Brother Brother, Sister Sister", since I had a hunch that it was going to be a light, bright and shiny humorous book that would take about 20 years' burden off my back. And so it did!

"(...)And I didn't really want to go out in the playground anyway, because I'm still not talking to Rachel and it's so boring, not talking to people when you have to keep remembering about it, and everybody else keeps remembering about it and giving you little looks when you go near the other person you're not talking to.

(...) Then I saw a flicker of Rachel's red skirt. She'd just come in with Clare to get something out of her drawer. She was not looking at me in the careful way you have to not look at people if you want it to look as if you're not looking at them."

Wouldn't you be? Hey, if you have a daughter, she'll familiarize with Tanya, the heroine - in an instant. That book is all about daughters. What do we have here? Tanya is writing her diary, ever so seriously, and it just happened that her dad lost his job, and her mom gave birth to quads. And so the story begins. Very funny events, lots of lovable mess, and of course playground friendship tangles to untangle. Lovely book, I tell you.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars SoSo story for teens/preteens struggling with family changes, May 2, 2000

By 

C. C Weissberg (San Mateo Coast, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brother Brother, Sister Sister (Paperback)

I bought this book for an 8-year-old child whose parents recently had quadruplets, but decided not to give it to her, partly because I think it is intended for the 12-and up age group. I thought that the combination of disasters that hit this family overshadowed the theme of the quadruplets (for example, the father loses his job and they are pushed to poverty, which gives a whole new dimension to the issue of multiples). It just didn't ring true. And if they were as hard up as the book sounds, the solutions that appeared for the father could never have pulled them out.

I would find this book more appropriate and helpful for a child dealing with a loss of family income and status than a child dealing with a change in family size. I guess what I am trying to say is that this book took on too much. And if you gave it to a new big sister or big brother, it might bring up fears they didn't have before they read the book.

Also, the protagonist was not terribly likeable or sympathetic; instead of seeing the struggle a parent made to be there for her, she balked at the embarrassment of the multiple babies. I just didn't buy the general negative attitude of the girl toward her siblings (although of course by the end she has "grown" and come to terms with it) or the negative attitude of others in the community. In my experience, communities are very positive, supportive, and excited at least when a multiple birth first happens. That said, there is a very sweet situation where a neighbor helps out without being obvious about her charity.

If you had a child who was already feeling sorry for herself and neglected due to a multiple sibling situation, this could help, because the child would not feel alone with these feelings. But if you had a child who was basically feeling positive about the situation but needed some support, I think it would be better to get some sitters and take the child out one on one than provide them with this book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brother, Brother, Sister, Sister, March 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Brother Brother, Sister Sister (Paperback)

This book is about a girl named Tyana that has 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Now her best friend Racheal does not want to be Tyana's friend because Tyana had lied to Racheal. At the end of the term a new girl Natile comes and Natile lives five blocks away from Tyana. They became friends.Then later on Racheal forgives Tyana, and they live happily ever after.