My Baby Sister is a Diplodocus
Aurore Petit (translated by Daniel Hahn)
Gecko Press

Adapting from being an only child to having a sibling is seldom easy as we see in this book.
It begins with a visit to the hospital to collect Mum and the new arrival. Once home the small boy narrator eagerly dangles his soft toy elephant over his baby sister, he plays her guitar music and then shows her around the house. However, before long his initial enthusiasm starts to wane, partly on account of his being told “No!” frequently and when Mum asks, “So, do you like being a big brother?” he replies firmly, “No!” and storms off to his bedroom where he dons his T-Rex pyjamas and proceeds to turn the room upside down.

Warm-hearted Dad comes in, picks up ‘big dino’ and carries him to the parental bedroom (there’s a caption informing us that big brother is a tyrannosaurus) where, snuggled up with Mum and Dad he falls asleep.

‘My baby sister is a diplodocus’ we read on the next spread, presumably feeling somewhat empowered as a much bigger T-Rex. On waking. big brother sees his new sibling in a different, much more accepting light; the two have much in common after all, he now realises.

Concisely written and illustrated with simple images in bright hues that go well with the sympathetic, engaging telling, this is a book to share with a young child in a similar situation to the
child narrator.