The Twins' Little Sister

Starred review from July 14, 2014
Having solved their blanket-sharing dilemma in The Twins’ Blanket, the twins at the center of this companion book are jostling for their mother’s time and attention. Those resources are in even shorter supply after a baby sister enters the picture. Yum packs a novel’s worth of emotion into her pages, from the twins’ unvarnished initial assessment of their sibling (“The baby is red and ugly. She looks like the bread in a paper bag”) to the hard-to-shake disappointments and jealousies that eventually give way to competitive attempts to be the better big sister. A sensitive, true-to-life story of a family’s growth that never turns saccharine. Ages 3–6. Agent: Sean McCarthy, Sean McCarthy Literary Agency.

June 15, 2014
New-big-sister dilemmas-times two.Readers of The Twins' Blanket (2011) will recognize the two adorable, identical twin girls in their polka-dot dresses (and of course, their striped blanket in the background). The twins have two of nearly everything, but they have only one mom, and this is a big problem. As they fight over whom mom will look at during nap time or whom she'll push first on the swings, their mother's bulging belly reveals an even bigger problem: a little sibling on the way. When the baby, who "looks like the bread in a paper bag," arrives home, there's suddenly not enough room for the twins on the grown-up bed or anyone to push them on the swings. But when the girls notice the attention they receive for helping with the new baby, their ever present competitiveness turns toward fighting over who's the better big sister. Always reconciled eventually, the twins decide that the baby is kind of cute and that they don't mind sharing their mom with her. As the competition to care for the baby continues, maybe their only problem now is that they need another baby sister! Ample white space allows the expressive, patterned artwork, created from prints, colored pencil, watercolor and other media, to show the twins' range of emotions.A spot-on look at sibling rivalry that will speak to multiples and singletons alike. (Picture book. 3-6)

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June 1, 2014

PreS-Gr 1-The girls from The Twins' Blanket (Farrar, 2011) are back and have something new to share-a baby sister! At first the twins aren't so thrilled about the baby taking up all their mother's time, but soon they realize that if they lend a hand, Mom will have more time to spend with them. They become so involved that they decide they need another baby! This semiautobiographical story puts a sweetly funny spin on the classic big sister plotline. The dual first-person narrative is comprised of dialogue, mostly between the twins as they sort out their feelings about their new sister. Once again, Yum shows a caring Asian family with the emphasis on the sibling relationship. Fans of the first book will be delighted that the blankets, along with the twins' favorite colors, pink and yellow, make an appearance in the stylistic and painterly mixed-media illustrations. This book has broad appeal for big sisters- and brothers-to-be as well as for twins.-Amy Seto Musser, Denver Public Library

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