U.S. Authors - 20th Century - Literary Biography, Journalists - News & Media Biography, Siblings

Siblings

Name: Siblings
Author: Nick Kelsh
ISBN: 9781402843860

by Nick Kelsh, Anna Quindlen

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Overview

Almost every life is profoundly touched--and complicated--by a sibling relationship. In intimate childhood portraits of brothers and sisters, Siblings joins Nick Kelsh's exquisite black-and-white photography--free of all sentimentality--to Anna Quindlen's wry and tender essays. Here are forgotten moments, naked emotions and conflicting urges, to be treasured in the rediscovery. Infant toes curl against each other, brothers fight tooth and nail, a toddler views a new baby with horror and later touches it with love. The raw reality of their interactions, transcending the children's own loveliness, is mirrored in nuances wittily pinpointed by the text. Siblings captures and reveals an undying dynamic at its very source--for siblings now grown, and for their parents and grandparents.

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Editorials

School Library Journal

YA-Quindlen writes with her usual expertise on the subject of life with brothers and sisters. Kelsh's photographic vignettes effectively illuminate the essays. "The Baby" is prefaced with a full-page depiction of a tiny, befrilled, thoroughly feminine little girl surrounded by six older brothers, each outfitted in distinctive sports gear. "Super Sisters," "Irish Twins," and the opening "Siblings" are embellished with black-and-white photos that show the dynamics of human relationships within the home. Frustration, dependence, exasperation, and responsibility as experienced by both younger and older siblings in the seesaw of family life are all explored. Perhaps the negative encounters are the more ruefully revealing. Quindlen sums it up in a passionate statement featured in bold type, "Oh how I hated that little boy, and how I loved him, too." In "Super Sisters," she explores a family in which the oldest girl takes over the role of mother. Even middle schoolers can relate to the situations described, reflect upon their long-term effects, and enjoy a wistful and humorous sense of d j vu.-Frances Reiher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.