Children's books: Sisters: "My Sister and Me", "Big Sister, Long Coat", and "Best Believe"

My Sister and Me by Joanna Estrela (Orca Book Publishers)
Big Sister, Long Coat by Nelly Buchet, illustrated by Rachel Katstallar (NorthSouth Books)
Best Believe by NoNieqa Ramos, illustrated by Nicole Medina (Carolrhoda Books)

Into the world of children's books...this time, starring the power of sisters!

In My Sister and Me—a story rather reminiscent of My Naughty Little Sister (which I adored as a child)—Estrela gives voice to an older sister who is learning to love and live with her younger sister. With rough drawings (the story is told as though a letter from older sister to younger sister, and with sketches that the older sister might have done) and simple language we see the younger sister creating chaos and the older sister stumbling on through.

This is perhaps not one for parents who expect their older children to be perfect baby angels who adore their new siblings on first sight...but it might be a good fit for older siblings who are struggling with a new addition to the family. It's an empathetic book, without being too on the nose about it.

Meanwhile, Big Sister, Long Coat makes for a lovely sister story with external tension rather than internal. Two unnamed sisters are out on the town for the day—but not everything goes as planned.

The text here is spare and the illustrations simple, with muted colors, but they manage to convey quite a lot—even when the younger sister is unhappy with the situation, it's clear that she trusts her older sister as a source of comfort and is sure that her sister can somehow make it right. This is probably best suited to younger readers, but slightly older kids (especially older sisters!) might get a kick out of it as well. There's no lesson here, just a feel-good story (and, okay, a reminder that a day can be great even with unexpected changes in plans). Look out for fun little details, too, like an umbrella-toting mouse or an elephant peeking out from behind a curtain...

And finally, Best Believe is a testament to women unafraid to use their voices to inspire change. It tells the tale of three sisters—Evelina, Lillian, and Elba—who moved from Puerto Rico to the Bronx as children. Coming of age in the 1940s, they saw (and felt firsthand) how many barriers to success people of color faced...and they set about doing something about it. Together and separately, they fought for affordable and equal education, libraries (and library resources) for all, programs to ensure kids had enough to eat during the summer, and more.

The illustrations are a little hit or miss for me—I like them in general, but the kids' faces tend to look prematurely lined—but I absolutely love seeing more children's nonfiction about unsung heroes, and this is no exception. This would make an excellent addition to school libraries, especially in places with large Hispanic populations—more diversity in libraries, and more chances for kids to see people from their communities represented in books, always. I'll add that the unsung hero of the book is the women's mother, who was a single parent. The book doesn't say a ton about her (I'm guessing there's just not that much out there), but you have to be doing something right to raise three powerhouses for change.

Thanks to the authors and publishers for providing review copies through NetGalley.