I've been reading the Frances canon to Jill. She sits for a longer story now, and I am so very tired of princess books. Frances is a badger-scented breath of fresh air.
We love spunky, song-singing Frances and her mishaps. However, Jill and I have a few (minor) complaints too.
In A Baby Sister for Frances, Baby Gloria is only shown on the first page! On every consecutive page, we had little conversations about which badger was Frances, and where Baby Gloria could be.
Bread and Jam is my favorite, because of the food of course! The sack lunches that Albert and Frances bring to school are just lovely, with cardboard salt shaker for hard-boiled eggs, black olives, and cup custards, which I can only assume are pudding cups.
I told Jill that a cup custard is a tiny yogurt. Poor pudding deprived child.
Don't get me started on the badger confusion in Best Friends for Frances. Gloria is almost the same size as Frances, and her sometimes-misogynist friend Albert is only slightly bigger. I just make random guesses as to who's who in this one.
Back to A Baby Sister for Frances, there's a small person who lives in my house who is going to be a big sister in the future, and I'd love to find some New Baby stories that Don't Involve Jealousy.
Take Penny Loves Pink by Cori Doerrfeld. It looks sweet, and not headache-inducing like Pinkalicious. However, Penny loves pink so much, she is pret.ty. upset by a new baby brother. "Boys are blue." By the end, Penny makes her peace with the brother she's dealt, but are there any "new baby" books that are NOT about jealousy?
I only know of one.
I don't own The New Baby (Usborne First Experiences) yet. The New Baby is illustrated by the same Stephen Cartwright who hides a tiny duck on every page of every book he illustrates. I bought it for a friend many years ago because it was NOT a book about sibling jealousy, but rather a book about preparing for and the arrival of a New Baby.
Bonus: the mother in this story breastfeeds, which is rare in children's literature. Gloria the badger is bottle-fed, which I am certain is not biologically accurate.
I'd love to start a collection of new baby books that don't involve jealousy, so if you know of any others, please share!
It's been awhile since I read it, but Baby on the Way by Dr. Sears is a good book, I think. I don't think it mentions sibling jealousy (which I also hate, I feel like those types of books give kids the idea that they *should* or *will* be jealous). It talks about changes in the mom's body and changes in the household and family. It is more AP-slanted (only really mentions breastfeeding, not bottle feeding), but if you are planning to breastfeed, I think that is great.
ReplyDeleteI do breastfeed, and it's not that I don't want my little ones not to see bottle-feeding, or to think it's bad in any way. It's just nice to see that the way we do things is the way some other people do things too. We don't always have to be the freakshow, if you get what I mean.
DeleteWe had a Little Golden Book about a family getting ready for a new baby, and I don't really remember it all that well--but I know it didn't focus on jealousy. I just looked it up at Amazon, and most of the reviews say it's very sweet. It was written 50 years ago, though, and it has a little girl mimicking her mom by playing with a doll--and one of the reviewers apparently feels it's very sexist and old-fashioned. But I love old-fashioned--so I just thought I'd mention it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/New-Baby-Little-Golden-Book/dp/0307021351/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391006311&sr=1-1&keywords=the+new+baby+golden+book
It's The New Baby by Esther Wilkin, with sweet illustrations by Eloise Wilkin (The web address above will lead you to one with a different illustrator, and I like this version better.)
Deletehttp://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Little-Golden-Book/dp/0307020517
Its $15 used on Amazon, lucky for me! It's in the Eloise Wilkin collection which we own! Saweet!
DeleteOh good! I still have a ton of Little Golden Books from when my boys were little--some of the vintage titles are my all-time favorite kids' books. And aren't Eloise Wilkins' illustrations absolutely precious?
DeleteBread and Jam is my favorite too! The Berenstain Bear's New Baby isn't about sibling jealousy. It is odd that they don't tell Small/Brother Bear that there's going to be a new baby until the day Sister is born (while they're guys are out of the house no less) but it's not about sibling jealousy one bit, he adapts well to the new baby.
ReplyDeleteI remember that one! Hey Brother Bear! Here is your big boy bed, and it came with a brand-new baby sister to boot! We haven't read any Berenstain Bears in a long time. I always read them at the pediatrician's office when I was little. I'll have to check out my library's supply. Thanks!
DeleteMy daughter remembers a Tomie dePaula book about a new baby that doesn't mention jealousy. I think "The Miracle of Me" is a great book about how the baby inside is growing but it's not written for an older sibling.
ReplyDeleteThe Tomie book I mentioned is called "The Baby Sister".
DeleteI think I just single-handedly crashed the libary's website. Unexpected errors all over the place.
DeleteBaby Dear by Esther and Eloise Wilkin is adorable. It was published in 1962, and is a sweet story with beautiful illustrations. It's our favorite new baby book. :)
ReplyDeleteAll of our boys have loved the Frances books. Thanks for the tip on Baby on the Way. We are expecting our 6th, and while jealousy has never been a probably for any of the boys in the past, our current "baby" KNOWS he's the "baby" and will probably go through some adjustments. BTW, I love your blog design. Did you do it yourself??
ReplyDeleteNah. I wish. I started to, but I know a graphic design wizard who works with Patrick and she made all of my wildest dreams come true!
DeleteI grew up on Francis, especially Bread and Jam (didn't realize my mother was trying to tell me something, the picky eater I was!).
ReplyDeleteIts funny how jealousy is a theme in books, instead of in life, my girls enthusiastically wanted to be another mother or mother's helper.
I love Frances! Although, I have confusion with that badger too.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I swear the only way kids would figure out to even be jealous of a baby is from annoying kids book! But maybe I'm a little jaded. I like hearing about books that don't bring it up - and that they exist.
We still love The New Baby. Such a precious book!
ReplyDeleteI surprised myself that I was able to still find it! It's a classic for sure.
DeleteSusan, Mary, and Christy, you put my thoughts into words EXACTLY! I've seen sibling displacement and need for extra TLC, but it was always a parent/child issue NEVER a child/baby-sibling issue.
ReplyDeleteWe read "There's Going to be a Baby," by John Burmingham and Helen Oxenbury before #4 arrived here--the focus is on questions a toddler might have about the arrival of a sibling, but clearly he is very excited about it! (There is an illustration of the boy taking a bath that, um, doesn't hide anything. But my kids didn't even notice it...)
ReplyDeleteAlso, they loved the Dr. Sears book mentioned above, too.
Oh, also Waiting for Baby by Harriet Ziefert.
ReplyDeleteHere's the link to the book I mentioned on FB earlier: http://www.adoremusbooks.com/babymargaretmarymyjourneytobirth.aspx
ReplyDeleteI really, truly love this book because it gives a way for siblings to be included on the baby's journey to birth. Baby Margaret Mary writes a letter each week telling what she's been up to, and it includes a verse from the bible each week as well. It's not necessarily a "getting ready for baby" book in the traditional sense, but it helps young ones visualize what is happening in utero, so when the baby shows up at the end of the journey, it's kind of like, "oh there you are, we've been waiting for you!"
Jessica
ReplyDeleteI have seen some lovely sibling baby books not focused on jealousy. I'll have to search and come back and recommend. I may have found them here
http://www.whatdowedoallday.com/
http://www.mylittlebookcase.com.au/
oh and a lovely Catholic site
http://bibliozealous.blogspot.com.au/
Dr. Sears has another picture book about new babies called "What Baby Needs." It's very AP-oriented of course, but I don't remember anything about jealousy in that one. There are also two by Joanna Cole: I'm a Big Brother and I'm a Big Sister that don't mention jealousy as I recall.
ReplyDeleteI love your new header too!
I'd recommend the Joanna Cole one, too: http://www.amazon.com/Im-Big-Sister-Joanna-Cole/dp/0061900621. It's not the most brilliant book in the world, and the illustrations are blah. But there's no jealousy, and it's very sweet and joyful. My three year old enjoyed reading it around the time her baby sister arrived.
DeleteI'm totally with you on the I Hate the Baby books. Why? I wrote about the ones we like here: The "Your Baby" Method of Sibiling Preparation, and Some Book Recommendations and I recently found "Baby Dear" in the Eloise Wilkins Stories treasury, for less than $10 on Amazon. It's darling.
ReplyDelete"My New Baby" by Rachel Fuller is a sweet book for toddlers that doesn't involve jealousy and does show breastfeeding. It doesn't have much of a story, per se, but each page illustrates something about the baby and how it might be different from big siblings-- how babies sleep a lot, cry a lot, only eat milk, can't walk, etc. It's a board book, so it might be a bit young for Jill if she's already into Frances, but we liked it a lot.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/My-New-Baby-Rachel-Fuller/dp/1846432766
Rosie's Babies by Martin Waddell is one of my favorite books. It shows a beautiful and true-to-life relationship between mother, toddler and baby. The illustrations are wonderful and tell a story all of their own.
ReplyDeleteFrances: I just can't get into it. The only one we have is Best Friends for Frances and it just... annoys me. The misogynist Albert... the same-looking badgers. They're just too much for me. Every time the boys pull it out I say, "Oh, that one's too long for Zeke," and put it back. One day I'll remember to hide it in our giveaway.
ReplyDeleteI hope to one day need all the recommendations on New Baby books above, but not yet.
So glad you asked about this -- I love all the suggestions. I found Welcome, Little Baby by Aliki at a thrift store before our #3 came along. It's simple, sweet, and very small - my toddlers love it. Used copies on amazon for $.01. http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Little-Baby-Aliki/dp/0688068103
ReplyDeleteSo glad you asked about this -- I love all the suggestions. I found Welcome, Little Baby by Aliki at a thrift store before our #3 came along. It's simple, sweet, and very small - my toddlers love it. Used copies on amazon for $.01. http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Little-Baby-Aliki/dp/0688068103
ReplyDeleteI second the suggestion for There's Going to Be a Baby by Helen Oxenbury&John Burningham. Our second son was born in autumn, like the baby in the story, so it was fun for my then 2yo to follow along with the changing seasons. Also, it's about a big brother welcoming a new sibling (whose sex remains a surprise!), which seems to be pretty rare in new baby books. We just loved the crazy imaginary adventures the little boy and his new sibling go on, too!
ReplyDeleteYou had me chuckling at the biological inaccuracy of Gloria's bottle. :)
ReplyDelete