The Family Bookshelf
By Bob Walch

"Bye-Bye, Baby!"
By Richard Morris. Illustrated by Larry Day.

The Audience: For children 3-6.

The Issue:Here's a humorous take on sibling rivalry, a not so funny problem. If you have a new baby or you expect one in the near future this is picture book you might wish to look at. The author addresses the problem of a young child not welcoming his little sister to the household.

The Content: Felix is not a happy camper. When his mother says, "Say hello to your baby sister." The disgruntled little boy thinks, "Bye-bye!" When she cries all night, Felix tells his favorite stuffed animal, "This isn't working out. I think we should take her back."

Eventually, when his sister is older, the family takes a day outing to the zoo. Since he still doesn't care for his sibling, Felix thinks of all the things the animals could do to his sister. For example, the elephant could sit on her, the hippo could put her in his enormous mouth, and the giraffe could set her high in a tree and leave her there.

Obviously things have not improved much but on the way home, a magical breakthrough occurs. I won't spoil the surprise, but you'll discover Felix's little sister manages to do something quite simple to reverse the sibling rivalry.

The Message: It may take awhile but eventually the jealously that is a big part of sibling rivalry will (hopefully) dissipate. The author gives the situation a rather sardonic twist but, after reading this book a few times, you could use it to open a discussion with your child about his or her feelings concerning the new arrival.

Before retiring, Bob Walch taught English in Santa Barbara and Carmel for 39 years. His reviews of children's literature appear in Central Coast newspapers and on line at the Reading Tub, Roundtable Reviews, My Shelf and Parent Click.