Big Sister, Little Sister

I love this story! This is a hilarious look at what it means to be a little sister-as told from her viewpoint. It is a very heartwarming tale that demonstrates how the younger sister deals with feelings of frustration, envy, safety and security in relation to her older sister and she comes to find a sense of self-worth, appreciation, confidence and self-esteem.
Age: 3-5
Source: Pierce College Library

In my opinion, this book would be a great addition to any teacher’s classroom. One reason is while reading this book, I was able to notice a common theme; the illustrations play a big part. Without the illustrations, a child could still understand the book, however with them you can really imagine what the little sister feels and what life is like for her with a big sister.
Another reason I really enjoyed this book is because of the progression of the relationship between the sisters that you can pick up on from the beginning to the end. From the beginning to the middle of the book, you can tell that the little sister is jealous of all of the things her big sister gets to do. She makes is seem like they are in constant competition. show more Most of the pictures from the beginning to middle are those that show the little sister being annoyed or frustrated towards the big sister. From the middle to the end of the book, the little sister talks enviously towards her big sister. For example she says, “The Big Sister tells all the good stories! I’m the little sister. I get to listen!” The illustrations start to show her big sister helping her with various activities and they look like they really get along. show less

This is a gorgeously sentimental picture book by Vietnamese author Leuyen Pham, a celebration of the relationship between big sisters and little sisters. The bonds of sisterly love that are conveyed in this book reflect the sometimes contentious but loving relationship. Being a middle child I could relate to the little sister in this book lamenting the fact that she always has to wear hand-me-downs, miss activities that were for bigger people and go to bed earlier than her big sister. The text is very simple and the artwork created using Japanese brush pen and ink with colour added digitally. Wonderful for both children and adults.

Big Sister, Little Sister outlines the roles played by both siblings in the point of view of the little sister. This whole book made me sentimental as I recently watched my own big sister walk down the aisle. The morning of the wedding, we were sitting in her hotel room with the other bridesmaids getting ready, reminiscing about our childhood over mimosas. As sentimental as that sounds, most of the loving stories my sister told were of how annoying I was as a kid. Despite this, she nearly cried when I pulled her aside to give her a framed photo of us from when I was a new-born.
This real life event, I think, sums up these two characters perfectly- as well as sisterhood in general. Yes, sisters tease, annoy, and complain about each show more other but at the end of the day both siblings know how much we mean to one another and have more good experiences than bad. That's exactly what this book reinforces: the reality of sisterhood. show less

I liked this book, it had a repetitive structure and was appealing to children. It is a great book about sisterhood, and although I am a boy and only have one older brother, there were parts of it that I still found relateable. This was from the perspective of the younger sister, the author, an immigrant from Vietnam.

This book about the differences and similarities about big and little sisters was an absolute joy to read. I love the illustrations, as they look like something a child would draw, and has lots of blank white space, which is well used to place the drawings and also reminds me of how children may draw one picture, rather small, in the middle of the page and not use the rest of the space. This really helps the voice shine through, as the whole text is written how the little sister would speak. Using these illustrations helps the reader believe the little sister wrote the book, along with the colorful language. I also enjoyed the fact that it uses comparison as well as similarity, and that these go from negative to positive throughout the show more book. Through this it shows realistically that being the little or big sister has its ups or downs, but that in reality, sisters wouldn’t have it any other way. show less

This book, "Big Sister Little Sister" by Leuyen Pham talks about the responsibilities that entail being a big and little sister. For example, the younger sister gets hand me down clothes, does not keep her room tidy, is always trying to catch up to her older sister, and is not allowed to stay up late to watch tv. The big sister gets to make decisions and has to take on more responsibilities, like helping with her little sister. Despite all of this, there are some things that the older sister is better at and some things that the younger sister is better at. It is determined that both have strengths and play their role wonderfully. This book is great for kids because it shows the dynamic of being a sibling and shows how each role is show more important. I have two sisters and I could deeply relate to the older sister, as it resembled much of my childhood. This book has given me a new perspective on how my younger siblings must have felt growing up, like : insecurity, jealousy, and love. This book shows how sisters can go from yelling at one another to helping each other. This book shows the reality of being a sibling. show less