MY SISTER AND ME

In this Portuguese import, an exasperated child writes a decidedly unsentimental—and amusing—letter to her little sister.

The narrator is sure that her younger sibling must have come from outer space, rejected as too annoying by her fellow aliens. Big sis views her sibling as an overly talkative, ungrateful, destructive vandal, prone to putting stickers everywhere—even on the family cat. The letter writer does have some tender memories, such as getting to name her sister and giving her hand-me-downs. But when provoked, she swears she’ll never speak to her sibling again. “But later I forgot.” Although their interactions are sometimes violent (once costing the little sister a tooth), the narrator eventually realizes that she and her sister are more like each other than not, and she finally understands that sisters are not the same as friends: “It’s not better or worse…just different.” Estrela captures the intricacies of the sibling bond: Whether they’re fighting or playing, these two are there for each other. The illustrations make the letter format feel genuine; the bold outlines are several steps up from stick figures, but not out of the realm of child art. And though the occasional drawing feels a bit more sophisticated, several pages look authentically adorned with the scribbles supposedly left by the sibling. Characters have skin the color of the page.

Readers with a sibling will laugh, ruefully; those without will feel both regret and relief at what they’re missing.