Julius, the Baby of the World

"Julius, the Baby of the World" is a great picture book about the acceptance of a new sibling and how it changes a household. This story is about Lilly, who is getting a new little brother named Julius. Before he was born, Lilly loved the idea of a new baby in the family, but that quickly changed right when Julius was born. She didn't like how a lot of her parents' attention was on her new little brother and she found anything and everything to hate about him. This goes on until the day her mother held a celebration about Julius. When Lilly's cousin Garland insults Julius, Lilly becomes angry and defends Julius. When she does this, she realizes that she actually loves Julius and is grateful for him. Overall, this book talked about the show more difficulty some children go through with accepting a new sibling. It described it very well, but also showed that they have the ability to accept them one day. I would definitely read this book with my own students one day during a lesson about Kevin Henkes' books and the possible hardship of accepting new family members. show less

Cute story about a mouse family, with older sister (Lilly) and her little baby brother (Julius) who everyone dotes on. Lilly is of course jealous and tries to do a few quite mean things to her little brother, but her parents seem oblivious. I would recommend it for young children who are experiencing a new family member, maybe... but only if you can be sure to get to the end where she redeems herself.

Lilly, like many children, finds her baby brother doesn't live up to the pre-birth hype. He steals attention from her is what he does.

And she expresses this the way many children do - she uses her words. People claiming that their children never, ever, EVER use words like "hate" or "ugly" or "disgusting" either don't have four year olds (Lilly's approximate age), have blocked that age from their memory, are lying, are lying to THEMSELVES, or have the sweetest, nicest, most wonderful children in existence.

The rest of us live in the real world where four is the age of the potty mouth. Gosh, if I go through a day without hearing "I'm NEVER gonna be your SISTER ever AGAIN" and "I hate you, you're MEAN!" and "You're UGLY and MEAN and I'm show more gonna PEE ON YOU!" I start feeling foreheads! And of course my two nieces love each other very much (heaven forbid I put one in time-out for antagonizing her sister, it's the other one who whines and tries to convince me it's unnecessary and sneaks around to hand out hugs behind my back!), but like all young children they have big emotions and limited means of expressing them. (Really, I'm just happy they use their words instead of their hands.)

And of course they didn't pick up the words "hate" and "ugly" and "disgusting" from the book, they picked it up from other children and from us - who doesn't say, when they burn their toast for the third time in a row, "Ugh, I hate burned toast"? Who doesn't say, when their kid picks their nose at the table, "Ugh, that's disgusting, go wash off and don't do it again"? Who doesn't say, when they find a bug in the house, "Hey, an ugly bug! Let's put it outside!"? (Who really wants to limit their child's vocabulary and leave them hopeless when they start school?)

So yes, this is a very realistic book. And the resolution - banding together to protect her brother from an outsider - is pretty realistic too, the surplus of mice notwithstanding. I definitely recommend it for any child in the suggested age range of 4 - 8. show less

Lilly doesn't appreciate her new baby brother at all. "I am the queen," said Lilly. "And I hate Julius." Her parents love him though and repeatedly proclaim him the baby of the world. Lilly does everything she can to thwart him (telling him he's ugly, teaching him his numbers and letters in the wrong order, making him cry, ignoring him, etc.) and spends quite a bit of time in the uncooperative chair. (My favorite bit is when she warns pregnant strangers: "You will live to regret that bump under your dress.") Nothing helps her contain her jealousy -- until the party her parents throw in honor of Julius when cousin Garland pronounces Julius "disgusting". Which makes Lilly's nose twitch and her eyes narrow and her fur stand on end. show more Suddenly sibling pride kicks in and Lilly (as queen) forces cousin Garland to kiss and admire and stroke Julius and repeat "JULIUS IS THE BABY OF THE WORLD". And from that moment on, for Lilly, he was. show less

I really liked this book because it is extremely relatable. There is a new baby coming into the family, and Lily is extremely jealous--as any older sibling would be. The new baby seems to take up all of the parents' attention, even love, and no one likes to be out-shined. As humans, we like to be the most popular and well-liked, and so when someone threatens that, we tend not to like them, and that is exactly what happens with Julius.

It was also really cool to see how quickly Lily changes her opinion of Julius when someone ELSE poses a threat to him. When someone out-shines you, you feel it is your right to detest them (both privately and publicly), but when someone else shows those same feelings, you feel personally offended. This may show more be a baby who is making Lily frustrated, but it is her brother, and it is her responsibility to stick up for him. I'm really glad the author included this point--it makes it all the more relatable, and therefore all the more realistic. show less

Julius is Lilly's new baby brother. She hates him. He takes attention away from her, he's loud, she has to share with him. She terrorizes him and asks when he'll be leaving. That is until her cousin insults him. Then she defends him and after that she loves him.
I love this book. I think it's a realistic portrayal of how an older sibling feels when a new baby comes home. It's funny and I think could be helpful for kids who are working through similar feelings. The ending might be a bit unrealistic, but it's sweet.

Julius, the Baby of the World, is a hilarious, relatable book to anyone who has a younger sibling. It would be the perfect book to read to a soon-to-be older sibling. The text is very funny and original, just like the illustrations. Reading it, I knew the older sister would change her mind in the end, but I was delighted that it was because she needed to stick up for and protect her baby brother. It is a fully charming book, one I would be happy to add to my classroom library.