I'll Always be Older than You; Jane Godwin, illustrated by Sara Acton

A heart-warming story about a girl who realises that she will always be older than her younger brother, no matter how much he grows. There are some things that are best learnt from a sibling and I’ll Always Be Older Than You is a wonderful celebration of sibling love.

Being an older sibling is no easy task and it is a position of great responsibility as the young girl in this story discovers. As her younger brother grows she will have to teach him everything that she has learnt so far. He will have it easy though as he has someone to show him how to do all these things, she had to learn to do it all by herself. It Is easy at the start as the baby brother doesn’t do too much. But he grows up quick and there’s teaching to be done. The girl must share her knowledge of eating and drinking, crawling, playing, reading, enjoying days out, toilet-training, shopping, birthday parties and even going to work. There is always something for this older sister to be teaching her younger brother.

A lovely story told in rhyming verse that is full of warmth, heart, kindness and bursting with sibling love. The illustrations are simple and do a great job of conveying the love between the siblings. Parts that really stood out for me are the clothing hand-me-downs that any younger sibling will be able to relate to. And I loved the scene in the bedroom where the younger brother is allowed to play with the toys that his sister doesn’t like and he’s allowed to look at the special things in her room but he isn’t allowed to touch them. Having a younger sister I was smiling at these moments, who wants a sticky-fingered younger sibling to be touching your special toys?!

Any child with a sibling, older or younger, will be able to relate to this story.

Recommended for 3+.