Brothers and Sisters Sibling Relationships in the Animal World by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

This informational book about sibling relationships in the animal kingdom highlights the wondrous connection between the human and animal worlds. It highlights the natural characteristics of land and sea animals as well as insects who all have surprising ways of interacting with their fellow siblings. I was drawn to this book because of it’s title; I realized I had never really thought about animal interactions in that way… or even really considered that animals had brothers and sisters. As it turns out, their relationships are probably just as complicated!
    Most of all in this book, I loved (and I mean loved) learning about the different animals. I became engrossed in the book’s facts as soon as I started reading it. I made sure I spent enough time on each page in order to take everything in. The structure on each page is consistent with illustrations, a main index-style heading, then a short slogan to engage readers and finally the compiled facts are in one main paragraph. I would like to highlight some of my favourite facts just because I found them astonishing and I hope you will too:
1) Did you know that Nine-banded armadillos are always born as identical quadruplets?
2) Did you know that the entire species of New Mexico whiptail lizards are female? They reproduce without a male!
3) Did you know that a litter of ten European shrews are so small that all ten can fit comfortable into a teaspoon? Whoa!

     I also loved the balance between the straight, factual information against the easy-going collage style illustrations. When I was a child I remember liking illustrated pictures in informational books better than actual photographs (and I’m not really sure why) but I still find myself attracted to books that are illustrated artistically.  The bright colours used to depict the animals are eye-catching and draw you into the page to learn more about them. Also, I believe the illustrator, Steve Jenkins, did a fabulous job at capturing the emotions and natural animosity or friendliness between the siblings. For example, in the picture of the grizzly bear brothers you can see the tension between the two as they practice fighting, while the family of beavers are clearly represented to show their team-work characteristics.
    The book also contains a section at the back which has facts on each animal species discussed in the book. Readers can learn where these animals live, their diets and their average size and population. I think this is a great addition and I certainly made use of to find out more about the European shrew, I just can’t believe how small they are.. 2 ½ inches!
    I have an older sister so when I was reading this book I began relating the animals’ characteristics to those of my family. I think I have decided that myself and my sister are most like two cheetah cubs. Young cheetahs play fight together in order to learn and gain experience for when they leave their mother’s care. I can relate to this, as my sister and I did have some arguments growing up (as most sisters do) but they were really quite minor and only caused us to learn how to compromise and communicate.
    Also, when I was reading about male wild turkeys, who stick together throughout life and help each other attract mates, I couldn’t help but relate this scenario to many of my male friends- plus, they really can be turkeys (my family’s saying for foolish people) sometimes.