The other day, I wrote about the crazy amount of sibling rivalry going on in our house right now. Such craziness that I took Katherine in to the city for an afternoon at the American Girl store to try to even the score.

As a book blogger, I feel a need to follow up that post with this one.

Books, as always, have been a part of our conversations regarding birth order, fairness and love. We have old favorites, old books read with a new appreciation and some books to add to our to be read pile.

Two of my favorite books of all time are Mem Fox’s Koala Lou and Kevin Henkes’ Julius Baby of the World. While both of these protagonists are older siblings (as tend to happens with this genre), the koala and mouse’s fear of ‘not enough love to go around’ are so universal that they work for talks with the youngest as well.

The Pain and the Great One is a great read no matter which sister is having a hard time. With alternating chapters, we get to read and talk about the emotions of big and little siblings alike.

Then there’s Ramona. I am now reading all the Ramona books for the third time. I read them all once when I was young. Read through the eyes of an only child, these were just great books. I read them once to Caroline, listening to her sympathizing with Beezus every time she called Ramona a pest. And now I am reading them to Katherine, a youngest who loves Ramona with all her heart. Each night when we read, she says, “Oh, like me!” as she learns of yet another way that she and Ramona are walking down the same tough little sister path.

And finally, a list of books I am hoping to read soon on the topic of big and little siblings, the fair and the unfair.

I Told You I Can Play

Silly Chicken

It’s Not Fairy

and The Best Kid in the World

Happy reading and here’s to sibling love…