The Times They Are A-Changin': Big Sisters Are The Best! by Fran Manushkin

THERE'S SOMEBODY NEW IN OUR FAMILY.

OUR BABY IS LITTLE, AND I AM BIG.

I AM A BIG SISTER!

Babies are a big deal. They need a mom and dad. They need a crib. They need attention. They need feeding. They need QUIET in the house when they are sleeping.

They cry when they are hungry or need a diaper change.

And when they need attention they can be LOUD! And SMELLY!

But a big sister is beyond all that. She is BIG. She sleeps in a big-girl bed. She gets an occasional cupcake with sprinkles. She can put on her own socks, and she knows how to play quietly during baby's nap time or go outside with Daddy and get twirled around! And get her turn at yelling--LOUD!

She is so BIG that she can help burp the baby. She can help with dressing by fetching a clean diaper and putting on his tiny little socks. And she can make the baby smile.

OUR BABY HOLDS MY FINGER TIGHT!

"BIG SISTERS ARE THE BEST!"

Big changes come when a new baby comes into the family, and Fran Manushkin's charming pre-primer on the subject, Big Sisters Are the Best (Fiction Picture Books) (Picture Window/Capstone Books), gives expectant or new older siblings a look at both sides of being the big kid. True, life is not the same: siblings have to share time and attention with the new baby, who suddenly takes up a lot of both. Older children have to be quiet when they want they would rather be noisy, and they may have to wait for Mom or Dad to play with them until Baby is happy. But as Manushkin shows, hugs and kisses are quiet and sweet, and soon there is another person who gets to share the parents' role as caretaker, and another person in the family who will soon love HIS big sister a lot. Manushkin takes a positive tone while touching all the bases in her sweet little manual for older daughters, and Kirsten Richards's illustrations done up in pastel drawings inside frames, as spot-art, and full-bleed pages to bring out the best in the new baby experience. Share this one along with that classic tale of siblingitis, Russell and Lillian Hoban's A Baby Sister for Frances (I Can Read Level 2).