Big Brother, Little Brother

Children's Literature

Photographs of brothers are the basis of this book. Each picture shows a scene from the life of two brothers doing everyday things. The boys in this book are shown playing golf, playing with worms, helping one another, wrestling in the yard, washing dishes, playing in the mud, fishing, playing doctor, and lots of other activities that brothers can be found doing. The boys in this book represent different ethnic backgrounds. There are brothers that are close in age and brothers that have several years age difference. There are brothers being silly, playing, and loving one another. This book features many of the moments that make childhood fun. The accompanying text, written in rhyme, tells what is going on in the pictures. Some of the words in the text that describe the action in the picture are even in unique fonts that look like the word. For example, the word bubbles is written in blue. The word is curvy and it has bubbles around it. This would make a great gift book for two brothers that are playmates. 2004, Dial Books for Young Readers/Penguin Putnam, Ages 2 to 7.
—Marcie Flinchum Atkins

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-This book explores the moods and activities of five ethnically diverse pairs of brothers, including play, feelings, and sharing. Curtis's bright, colorfully photographed spreads evoke unforgettable moments; the rhyming text is punctuated by colored fonts and rebus-style symbols selected for key words. For example, the word "squished" is appropriately curved and crowded, and the word "bus" is printed on a yellow school-bus-shaped vehicle. Adopted brothers are included as well. Wherever the topic of brothers or siblings is explored, this title will be a reassuring vehicle to promote warm and positive relations.-Phyllis M. Simon, Bay Shore School District, NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

This gathering of brothers-sharply etched, bright photographs of pairs of them, younger and older, multicultural-celebrates harmony with nary a discord in sight (minor differences of opinion are of the most benign sort). This is not reality television; Curtis trains her camera on sharing, consolation, goofing off, gentle pranks between the boys, who wear matching shirts to emphasize their bond. Simple, rhymed couplets describe the images with an air of lazy-day pleasure: "Little brother, don't you dare! Hands off my underwear! / We're munching hanging donuts dangling in the air." And this may well give rise to a sense of fellow feeling between young boy readers, just because it all looks like so much fun. Even the words beneath the photos include a whimsical reference to the scene: "bubbles" has bubbles, "squishes" is squeezed, the "o" in "donuts" is, what else, a donut. Why bicker when there's enough room on the skateboard for two and a frosted donut for every mouth? (Picture book. 3-6)