Lola Reads to Leo by Anna McQuinn and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw (Charlesbridge, 2012) is a big sister book, starting when Lola is reading with her mom before the baby is born. When baby Leo arrives, Lola gives him a book, the “perfect present.” When he is crying or hungry or messy, Lola knows just which book to choose to help him feel better. She knows she is being a good big sister when she reads to him.
My five-year-old son absolutely loves reading to his little sister, so this was a story that really hit the spot in our home. The acrylic illustrations are perfect1 and perfectly suit the mood. Big Sister Lola is the star here!
This week’s Cybils’ focus is on babies! Since my baby is quickly getting old (she’ll be ten months old next week), I’m mourning the loss of a not-yet-crawling baby, but looking forward to coming months of a baby who is more interested in playing and reading with me! She obviously already loves books by the way she devours them (literally trying to eat them, which is of course perfectly age appropriate!).
There are many more new sibling and baby books in the Cybils stack, and it is unfortunate that I will not have time to discuss all of them. My Cybils time is coming to an end, as I’ve just spent a marathon two and a half months reading through 234 out of the 237 on the fiction picture book list. I’ll keep reviewing as much as I can in the coming months, but know that there are far more books on the list than I will ever get to!
- I especially love the (tactfully done) breastfeeding mother, as I am always disappointed when a picture book for young children show a newborn drinking from a bottle! ↩
