My Brother

From the Publisher
A warm, funny celebration of brothers from acclaimed author-illustrator Anthony Browne.
My brother is really COOL. He’s a SUPER skateboarder and he’s got MASSIVE muscles. He can run so FAST that…he can FLY! Yes, my brother is really COOL.
A humorous, affectionate tribute to brothers, perfect for adults and children to read together, and an ideal companion picture book to the bestsellers My Dad and My Mum.

Children’s Literature
My brother, our young narrator informs us, ‘is really COOL.’ Browne’s accompanying picture shows the brother with carefully labeled ‘cool hair,’ ‘cool ears,’ ‘cool shirt,’ ‘cool sweater,’ ‘cool jeans,’ and ‘REALLY cool sandals.’ Among the brother’s cool accomplishments are prowess at jumping, climbing, soccer, skateboarding, running, reading, writing, drawing, singing, dancing, whistling, and bubble-blowing-all appropriately matched with amusingly labeled illustrations of the brother with his ‘cool goal,’ ‘cool helmet,’ ‘cool bubble,’ and so forth. The charm of Browne’s depiction of a younger brother’s hero worship of his older sibling is that the ‘cool’ brother really does not look that cool at all-he’s just a grinning, good-natured, somewhat chunky kid engaged in ordinary kidlike activities (well, he can also fly and sit down on monsters, at least in the imagination of his adoring little brother!). By the end of the book, the younger brother is able to recognize his own coolness (the closing spread shows both brothers in identical cool outfits, with identical huge smiles). When so many books portray hostility and jealousy between siblings, it is a joy to see the sibling bond celebrated here-and to see that coolness can be expressed not only in clothes and sports, but in reading, writing, and drawing, too.

Marianne SaccardiCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information. – School Library Journal

K-Gr 3
‘My brother is really cool,’ boasts a young boy. On widely spaced lined paper, he writes of his older sibling’s many attributes. Not only does he have cool ears and hair, but he also wears cool clothes. And he can score ‘FANTASTIC goals’ in soccer, ‘run so FAST that…he can FLY!,’ ‘read HUNDREDS of books,’ and write ‘BRILLIANT stories.’ Browne’s over-the-top, whimsical cartoon illustrations are the perfect foil for this child’s exuberant praise of his sibling. Big brother’s ‘cool’ button is echoed in the many buttons containing accolades like ‘SUPER BROTHER!’ and ‘He’s GREAT!’ on the endpapers. Big brother’s artwork is so fine that the wolf he has drawn comes to life and frightens Red Riding Hood off the page. The bubble he blows fills a room, and he reads Browne’s My Brother in a chair constructed of books and ‘cool’ sandaled feet. The author’s fans will recognize his penchant for gorillas, and they will delight in the self-affirming ending when they turn the page after reading, ‘And guess what?.’ Cool!