Whatever Happened to My Sister?
Simona Ciraolo
Flying Eye Books
It’s unusual to have a picture book about how the on-set of puberty can have such a profound effect, being presented from a younger sister’s point of view. There are lots of books about the arrival of a new baby and how this impacts on the family and in particular, the older child or children. The growing up of an elder sibling can also have an unsettling impact upon the one being left behind, particularly where it’s two girls involved.
Here, we have a tender-hearted, somewhat whimsical look, presented through the eyes of a small girl, at the realization that her big sis. has joined the ranks of that breed of ‘just teenagers’ who seemingly spend most of their time behind a closed bedroom door or plugged into various mobile devices.
“I’d had my suspicions for a while that someone had replaced my sister with a girl who looked a lot like her. It had to be!” says the narrator as she remembers the good times they had together while perusing a photo album.
Then, turning detective, she then goes on ponder the tell-tale signs in retrospect …

some more obvious than others –

… and to relate how she even turns to her sister’s friends for answers to the thorny problem.

Simona Ciraolo’s mixed media illustrations executed with a limited colour palette, predominantly in shades first of blue, grey, and latterly, red and orange, speak volumes about the dynamics of the loving relationship between the two siblings.

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