I don't need a little brother by Nat Amoore and Nathaniel Eckstrom

A zany look at the impact of a new sibling is presented as the narrator does a range of things to rid himself of this new addition to the family. Each time he is disposed of, the author cleverly relates the things he is not good at while showing him coping in the new environment.

Readers will laugh out loud as they watch the boy trying to rid himself of the annoying sibling. He takes him in the wheelbarrow to the post office where he is posted to France. Here the child climbs the Eiffel Tower, paints at The Louvre and eats at a swanky bistro. But at home he is unable to build a Lego tower, he leaves a mess when he eats, and cannot draw anything. Next the boy leaves his little brother at the zoo. Here he cleans the lion’s teeth despite being frightened of everything at home, he has a shower at the elephant’s enclosure despite being too small for the showers at home and he swims with the seals, despite not knowing how to swim.

Again the child is returned.

Not to be deterred, the boy takes his sibling to the rocket launch and the younger child is sent to the moon.

All along the older boy is giving reasons for not wanting a little brother, and the text and illustrations belie his reasoning.

When the child is returned to earth, the older boy cannot find his true companion, Beryl Bear. He searches everywhere without success, the rest of his family trying to placate him, but it is the little brother who finds his bear for him and he realises that perhaps he does need a little brother.

This charming story is quite delightful in its depiction of the new child coming into the family. I love the way the illustrations are full of humour rewarding the reader with seeing the different points of view.

Readers will understand the impetus in the family for siblings to get along, and see the humour in the older boy’s attempts to defy his parents. They will laugh with the boy saying for example, that his brother does not make friends, and there he is in the illustrations chatting to an alien on the moon. Lots of laughs about a serious topic, which everyone will recognise encouraging children to see the positives of having a sibling.

Nathaniel uses pencil and acrylic paint to create his images using Photoshop to finish the illustrations. More can be found about this illustrator here.

And Nat Amoore can be found here.

Themes: Family, Siblings, Imagination, Love, Humour.

Fran Knight