McGhee, Alison and Bluhm, Joe. Dear SisterOctober 2nd 2018 by Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Public library copy
When an eight-year-boy suddenly has a baby sister thrust into his life, he writes her a series of notes and letters, heavily illustrated, that tell the story of her effect on his life. From portraits and progress reports of a one-year-old until the boy leaves for college and has to say good bye, the ups and downs of their relationship is captured. Mostly, the sister is annoying, and common themes pop up-- she ruins everything, wants to be read to over and over, and gets in his way. Still, he clearly loves her, and is sad when he finally has to go off to college.
Strengths: The size of the text and the placement and amount of pictures is perfect for a middle grade notebook novel. The use of a medium blue along with the black and white makes for some very attractive pages. I enjoyed how Bluhm made the drawings look like they matured along with the main character.
Weaknesses: The brother seems overly negative for most of the book. It's just not what I've seen in families who have large differences in ages.
What I really think: David Lubar's Let Sleeping Freshman Lie is a more interesting take on this topic. If I bought this, it would probably circulate on the strength of the illustrations alone, but I'm not sure how the nostalgia would resonate with an actual 11-year-old.
I agree about the age difference. My sister is 10 years younger than me (from my real dad), and I have twin brothers who are 20 years younger than me (from my step-dad), and I adore my siblings and we get along splendidly, but my brothers who are 1 and 2 years younger, we don't get along all that well, especially when we were younger. They tended to annoy me, and still do. I don't know if me being a girl would have anything to do with how I see my siblings, or not, but it could be.
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