In a 32-page illustrated book, Hadar Fadida (the author and illustrator) has tackled an old topic with a new approach. Her book deals with a newborn’s arrival in the family and the older sibling’s reaction to it.
Jealousy among siblings
Children at a young age are not initially comfortable with the arrival of a younger sibling. In the story, the elder brother is jealous, does not like his sister, and seems fixated that his sister is a baby and can’t do much. We then see the brother and sister embark on an adventure while the brother goes from shop to shop trying to exchange his sister for things he would rather have, like ice cream or a pet.
Written from the elder brother’s point of view, we see him learn to accept her, love her and understand that she is the best thing to ever happen to him.
The Upsides
I believe there is a lot of responsibility involved in writing a children’s book. Children’s minds must be molded at a young age with the right values. We see adults not accepting people due to their skin color, where they are from, or their disabilities. I appreciate the route Hadar has taken in writing the story. I think it was creative to involve races, disabilities, and indiscrimination, along with the main message in a small story aimed at children. She has diverse characters and extended the lesson of accepting everyone beyond my expectations.
I found it adorable that the colors did not stay within the lines. It also showed great creativity on the part of the author.
The Downsides
That being said, the illustrations were fun until it wasn’t. They seemed too much, all over the place and sometimes even irrelevant. Due to this, I was distracted from the message on multiple occasions. When you’re writing a children’s book, you must keep the child’s focus throughout, especially when the message is important.
The first few pages were not easy to understand. Once the adventure starts, we can see a format going though it may be hard for children to catch onto. Grammatically, I found only one error.
Summary
Overall, the message mixed with additional learning points makes for a good story for children. Through her story, she shows that life is definitely better and more fun with a sibling than being an only child.
