"Big brother, little brother, buddies true and strong. Life is truly twice as fun since he came along."
Big Brother, Little Brother is a fun-filled book for boys ages 3-8 of how brothers big and small relate to one another. With simply, rhyming schemes and slice-of-life pictures, the author does a great job detailing the great (and one or two not-so-great) things that brothers experience together. Five pairs of brothers, each from an ethnically diverse heritage, are the subjects of the photos, many of which are quite funny and tell a story all by themselves. There's a picture of a big brother about to kiss a pet bird, while the little brother grimaces, awaiting the inevitable "peck" that the bird might give back! Another shows a little boy helping his brother tie his shoe. Yet another shows a little brother grinning from ear to ear while big brother helps him show off his muscles. All throughout the book, the rhyming captions capture the essence of the moment, even adding to it by using fonts that emphasize the action such as the "oo"s in the word loop actually looking like two loops.
Parents may be a little concerned about the message or behaviors a few of the pictures teach little boys. The cover photo, for example, shows two brothers getting ready to bathe a frog with soap, something that the frog probably wouldn't enjoy since this would most likely kill him. The picture of big brother encouraging little brother to eat a worm, saying that they "taste just like chicken" is another that may cause some concern. A third shows two brothers sitting on a skateboard, tugging a dog's tail in order to get a pull. While it is true that these behaviors are not what we want little boys to learn, the fact is that this is indeed what little boys tend to do and the author/photographer captures this perfectly. Of far more importance to me are the many more pictures that show brothers helping one another ("Big brother's there for me when I start to cry..."), playing together with obvious hilarity ("Kiss my fish, make a wish, then I'll set him free"), and above all showing that brothers can be the best of friends.
Being a father of two adopted sons, one other inclusion that for me just adds to the book is that two of the brothers talk about being adopted themselves and how that "Though we're not blood brothers, we are brothers of the heart." This and many other pictures and rhymes has made this book a favorite for my boys to read.