Customer Reviews

I'm a Big Brother

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After reading about 8 big brother/big sister books, this is one of my top three favorites. The mood of the book is very positive, unlike many others on the subject. Our son enjoys it very much.

This is one of several books I bought for my almost-two-year-old. It's one of his favorites. The book deals with the addition of a baby very matter-of-factly, but positively. Both Mommy & Daddy take care of the baby. Daddy even changes a diaper. It gives a very positive account of the new baby in respect to the big brother, too. The advantages of being a big boy and big brother are highlighted. I've given this book as a gift for friends having their second child.

I have been looking some time now for a book for my son that tells him about having a new baby. I really like how this book tells what all a new baby can't do yet (ex. new babies can't talk, walk, play with toys yet, and can't eat pizza or ice cream). Then the book goes on to tell what babies can do (ex. Babies like to drink milk, stay warm and cozy, and best of all the baby loves to look at me because I'm the big brother!). The book makes the brother of the baby feel special because the book explains to them that they are a big boy and a new brother. It lets them know that they can help mommy and daddy with the baby! My son is only 2 1/2 but loves this book more than I thought he would. He now talks about can't waiting for his new baby to get here. Now He tells everyone that he is a big brother, my little guy is just so proud of this! This is a very well writen book, easy to understand even for a 2 year old. As a new mom to be I also love this book, it helps explain things that I wasn't sure how to.

When we first picked up this book for my three-year-old, we thought it was a pretty great book. My 3-year-old loved it, and even memorized it. He requested that we read it several times a day. Then the new baby came, and I started seeing the problems with the book. For instance, as others have noted, the baby in this book eats from a bottle, and the big brother can help. Since we are nursing, this is not an option for my son and he is seemingly constantly asking why he can't help (if he didn't love the book so much I would just make it disappear at this point, because it seems very contradictory for me to tell him that we don't use a bottle and then to read to him that the baby drinks from a bottle). It is also bothersome that the mother in this book NEVER holds the baby. The brother and father both hold the baby, and we see her in a stroller and in a swing, but there is zero interaction between the mother and baby, and that is what is so completely unrealistic for me. I think it's great to promote dads holding babies, changing diapers, and feeding bottles, but it is not realistic to portray the mom has having no involvement at all.

My son was only 2 1/2 when his little brother was born. Even though we tried to prepare him for the event, this book did more than we ever could. Given to us by a friend, I have since given out several copies to friends of ours going through this experience. This book really helped my older son understand that even though we had a new baby in the family, he was just as special to us and that we loved him just as much. As far as I'm concerned, this book has proven to be wonderful for boys about to become big brothers. In fact, he still loves to read it with us, almost a year later.

This book explains it just right! It was a wonderful idea to make a sister version and a brother version of the same book so that each sex can identify better with the gender specific text and illustrations. I found it helpful to introduce this book about 2 months before the new baby arrives. I like how the text plays up the fact that the baby can't do many things that the big brother can do. Therefore, it sets a positive tone for the child to better accept the fact that the new little person is going to need quite a bit of attention (help) from everyone. I am a preschool teacher and when one of my students is about to become the big brother, I always recommend 2 books--"I'm a Big Brother" to read with the child and "The Pocket Parent" with hundreds of sanity saving suggestions for Mommy and Daddy. There are a variety of issues and concerns that arise when a new baby comes into the family of a preschooler. Both of these books in their own way help relieve anxiety of parents and children. The books do a great job acknowledging and addressing feelings due to the changes in behavior and routine that are bound to happen with the birth of a new sibling. Keep them handy to be consulted and reread at a moment's notice.

We received this book as a gift when I was expecting our second child. My son was just over a year and a half when we started reading it. The pictures are simple and nice to look at. Unlike many of the other "sibling" books out there, this one does NOT talk about feeling jealous or upset about the new baby. We liked that - so my son was not thinking of sibling rivalry before the baby came! We are going to order I'm a Big Sister for a friend of mine, based on how much my child has enjoyed and continues to enjoy this book.

I bought this book to help my almost-three-years-old son adjust to the idea of a new baby brother or sister. He loves it and asks to read it about four times a day. The text is easy to understand. It explains some of babies' limitations ("Too little to walk. Too little to talk.") and also talks about why babies cry, etc. The illustrations are really sweet and everyone is smiling, even the kitty cat.

The one thing I don't like about this book is that it assumes the mom will be bottlefeeding. There are bottles in several pictures (one shows the brother giving a bottle). Since we breastfeed, I would have preferred a book where the mother nurses the baby. However, this hurdle was easily overcome by some quick mommy text improvisation. ("Babies like to nurse," instead of "Babies like to drink milk"). All in all, it's a great sibling book and one I don't hesitate to recommend.

We received this book as a gift to my 22-month old son when his baby brother was born. I thought it was so cute and he loves it. That was 8 months ago and I can't remember how often I read it to him back then, but he asks for it to be read to him almost every day now! Whenever I read the book to him, I have always substituted his name for the "I" in the book just to make it less confusing for him (so it doesn't sound like I (mommy) am the big brother). He can relate to the pictures in the book because they look just like things we all have at home - the infant car seat, swing, baby bed with mobile, and even the toys they play on at the park. It is kind of hard to tell which one is the Mom in the book, though! I'm ordering the book for a friend whose 2 1/2 yr. old will be a big brother soon, too. I highly recommend it!

Little boys don't always respond well to the super-sappy books about the new baby. Fortunately, this book is different, talking about the new baby's arrival in rather matter-of-fact terms. It's similar to Baby Science: How Babies Really Work (another favorite in our family), but offers a fictionalized account of life with a new baby. I highly recommend it.