Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother

by Sarah Sullivan, Paul Meisel (Illustrator)

A young boy records the ups and downs of life as a new big brother in a scrapbook of funny, earnest letters and other touching memorabilia.

There's a baby on the way! Of course, Mike is very excited and curious about his new sibling. And he's very eager to assume his new role as a big brother. To start, he's decided to record his observations and experiences in a series of letters to the baby, displayed here along with playful illustrations of Mike's own drawings, family "snapshots," and even a sonogram. Whether Mike is feeling like an "invisible boy" or boasting of his new sister's talents, whether furious when she breaks his favorite toy or proud to save her from a hot curling iron, his account of his first year of life as an older brother evolves into a very special keepsake — and a funny, honest, and heartfelt tribute to sibling relationships.

Genres: Picture Books, Family, Childrens

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 9, 2005

About the author

Author of ALL THAT'S MISSING, which received a starred review from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and 4 picture books, including PASSING THE MUSIC DOWN which was an NCTE Notable Book in the Language Arts. Her second book, DEAR BABY: LETTERS FROM YOUR BIG BROTHER was an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold award winner. Her fifth picture book, A DAY FOR SKATING, illustrated by Madeline Valentine, was published by Candlewick in 2019. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College where she won the Harcourt Post-Graduate Scholarship. She also received an Individual Artist Grant/Fellowship from the West Virginia Arts Commission and lives with her husband in Williamsburg, VA. Loves theater -especially Sondheim musicals -, visiting bookstores and walking on the beach. For more info visit her website at www.sarahsullivanbooks.com

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the epistolary picture book Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother (2005), Sarah Sullivan text (which is a series of sweet, sometimes poignant, sometimes funny and occasionally even rather annoyed as well as frustrated letters) shows how young Mike (who will be a big brother soon) first writes missives to his unborn sibling, and thus, the featured notes before his baby sister is born are of course addressed as Dear Baby, since in Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother the gender of Mike's unborn sibling is not known by him (and how in those first letters, Mike is actually hoping for a baby brother so they can play soccer together and share toys although his father then points out to his son that girls can and do play soccer as well). And of course, after a baby girl is born and Mike continues with his missives, he then addresses his letters to Erica, with the notes continuing until Erica's first birthday (so that at the end of Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother, Mike presents his bundle of letters accompanied by his own pictures as a scrapbook birthday gift for his sister and a delightful albeit for jaded adult readers maybe a trifle didactic but for me also wonderful message celebrating family and siblings, with Paul Meisel's colourful accompanying artwork doing a great job mirroring and reflecting the featured notes, often also visually expanding on them and definitely aesthetically delightfully looking like they are supposed to look, looking like Mike's personal artwork, since in Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother, big brother Mike not only writes sweet and fun missives to his little sister Erica but he also graces his notes, his words with many of his hand-drawn pictures).

Yes, Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother does an excellent (as well as a totally wonderfully emotionally realistic and intensely satisfying) job (both textually with Sullivan's first person letters from Mike and visually with Meisel's purported pictures from Mike) revealing and also analysing both the fears and equally so the joys that can and do accompany the arrival of a new family member for older siblings, and that as Erica matures during the course of Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother, Mike's missives to his sister also show him growing into his role as big brother and even beginning to quite appreciate and enjoy this (with there being defined stages shown in Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother from Mike resenting the attention Erica gets to defending her perfection to his friend Rishi, who also has a new baby sister, Maya). Thus with Sarah Sullivan's letters for Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother feeling natural, age appropriate and nicely convincing, and Paul Meisel's illustrations equally so, for both my inner child and for adult me, the combination text and images in Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother is absolutely delightful and that Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother is also as such warmly recommended both for new sibling dynamics and also for and introduction to basic letter writing as well as scrapbooking (and while I was originally going to be rating Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother with four stars, well, my inner child wants five stars and that this will definitely now be the case).

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike begins writing letters to his sibling three weeks before the birth. He’s hoping for a little brother because he hasn’t had any practice at being a big brother and he thinks that they could at least share a love of soccer. When the baby is born on Jan. 5, it’s a little girl! “Mom and Dad think you are beautiful, but they also think asparagus tastes good, so you cannot always believe them.”

Mike continues writing letters to his sister Erica throughout her first year of life. Do they end up getting along?

Sarah Sullivan has produced a lovely picture book about the ups and downs of being the big brother. It even has some glued-in greeting cards from Mike! Lovely illustrations from Paul Meisel complete this fine book.

Special thanks to Manybooks for recommending.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike’s Mom is expecting a baby, soon. As a way to prepare for his new role as a big brother, his parents ask him to write a letter to the baby. Over the course of a year, Mike writes letters to his new little sister.

Readers get to see Mike grow from an anxious, expectant boy, to an annoyed brother, to a proud, big brother, who is ready to brag about his little sister to everyone. Written in a scrapbook style, parents and children will chuckle at the pictures depicting Mike’s adventures. Overall, this is a precious book to teach young boys that it is a wonderful thing to be a big brother.

Notes:
This review was written for Sasee Magazine and My Sister's Books.
This review was posted on the Ariesgrl Book Reviews website.

[Bec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Format: 32 pages. Approximately 1500 words. POV: first person, past/present

Epistolary-style picture book structured like a scrapbook containing letters and drawings by the main character, Mike, for his younger sibling. Author deftly expresses the way a child experiences the birth of a sibling with every emotion from excitement to jealousy to frustration to pride. Mike's relationship with Erica is an evolving thing made clearer by Mike comparing his experiences having a little sister with his best friend Rishi who also becomes a big brother.

[Kendra Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Letters from Your Big Brother is a great book about a little boy writing letters to his baby sister throughout her life in the womb and as they are growing up. Through the letters, the reader is able to go through the stages a typical older sibling go through (happy, jealous, angry, etc).

This book is in scrapbook format by the big brother. This book includes real pictures of a sonogram and the illustrations are colorful and realistic.

This book would inspire a lesson about writing letters. The students can either write a letter about their siblings or they can make up a story.

[Jesse Crooker]

This is a very cute story about a boy who becomes a big brother to a little sister. He keeps letters/journal entries about events that happened both good and bad throughout the first year of having the new baby around. It does a great job of capturing moments both good and bad and expressing real emotions!

[Ollie Skyba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, how I wish we had found this book a few years earlier - when we were expecting our second baby. It’s such a sweet and thoughtful idea: a big brother writing heartfelt letters to his new sibling. Gentle, funny, and full of love. A perfect gift for growing families.

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable, funny, realistic book about the love-hate feelings of a child toward the new baby in the house.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really cute book! It could be used to show how to write letters and also for reading to a child with a sibling on the way.

[Red 1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

"105 out of 105. Because it's the best book in the world and I give it 1001 out of 1001. I liked it because the notes were happy and first he was starting to get mad and then he was more jealous and more jealous and he got mad because she broke his toys and then he got mad but then he started to hold her and he was happy and it was her 1st birthday in the world." -Bryson

"Maybe I like I like when he like i say and he writes her as a rat but shes not a rat. And when he said 'Don't touch my toys anymore you break everything you have your own toys!' and also I like when he like have like a smile on his face and hes like a superhero and says 'watch out i'll protect you baby sista!!' that's it" -Ariel

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

very cute book in which each page is a letter an older brother writes to his newborn sister throughout her first year.