My Big Brother Boris product reviews

I was really pleased to get this book in the latest round from Scholastic. I have two children - girls who are 5 years apart and the subject matter is very topical for me. This book is about siblings and their relationships as they grow and how those relationships change and yet stay the same. There is a lot of great stuff in here about family dynamics and how easy it is for parents to forget what it's like to be a teen too.

What surprised me about the book was how easily so many family based themes are covered in so few words. The illustrations really bring the family to life as well. They are such bold and vibrant characters. The emotions of each scene are really apparent on their faces which was helpful too. It lead to a number of awesome conversations about how each character was feeling and why.

For my eldest, her biggest worry right now is making sure she is relevant for her sister. She worries a lot about the future and whether she will be liked by her sibling. But I know heading into those pre-teen and teenage years this book is going to be just as helpful for my toddler too. Getting to grips with a sudden relationship change where her big sister may not want to play with her anymore.

This book was fabulous and I would really recommend it to anyone with more than one child. I am going to seek out the other book in the series now which is about the little sister Doris. I suspect that might be just as helpful around here too.

When I spotted My Big Brother Boris up for review I searched about it and decided it sounded like a perfect book to introduce to the children I work with especially since a lot of them had older siblings. The book is designed for 3-6 year olds but reading it through the first time myself I wondered if it was a little too advanced for 3 year olds but decided to give it a whirl and see what the children thought.

As soon as I pulled the book out I had a large group come and join me wanting to listen to the new Croc book, the picture on the cover caught their attention straight away. A few pages into the book some of the younger children wandered off but the older 4 year olds stayed put listening to the story and jumping in with their opinions right throughout the story. Afterwards we had great conversations about our siblings at home and how sometimes they are nice to us and sometimes they are mean. Just like Boris is to little croc. One of the children was very concerned when we got to the page where Boris and parents have a disagreement. The use of the word stupid really upset her because in her words "it's not nice to tell people things they have done are stupid."

Later when we revisited the book some of the younger ones joined us again and instead of reading the whole story we looked at the pictures, these held their attention for a lot longer than the story did. The book does have a good moral behind it but it is much better suited to older children.