Sophie Peterman Tells the Truth! by Sarah Weeks is all about the difficulties of being an older sibling. Sophie is here to set the record straight about the lies parents tell their children about the new baby. It reads like an update to Martha Alexander's Nobody Asked Me if I Wanted a Baby Sister (link to review)

Sophie goes through step by step all the ways babies are impossible, alien, annoying additions to the family. They aren't cute, they can't do anything, they're noisy, they're stinky and so forth.

What Sophie doesn't realize at first is that babies don't stay babies for very long. In fact they change and learn pretty quickly. As they learn they become more interesting. The book takes a charming turn as Sophie's opinion of her brother softens.

When I read this book to my two, I expected my son to relate to the book most as he's the oldest. I was wrong. It was my daughter who found the book hilarious. For every one of Sophie's examples, she wanted to know how she and Sean were like as babies. ( )

Sophie explains all the dos and don'ts of a baby in the house. comical

Kids deserve to know the truth about having a sibling, and Sarah Weeks tells it in Sophie Peterman Tells the Truth!

"Babies are not sweet. Babies are not precious. Babies are not cute. Babies are... YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE! Here are some true things about babies:
1. If you try to sell one, nobody will buy it.
2. If you try to pick one up, BEWARE, they leak."

(imagine the baby in a cardboard box in the yard with the FOR SALE sign, or Sophie carrying the leaking baby with a diaper hanging down to his knees!)

As if these problems aren't bad enough, WATCH OUT if

"he starts calling you something really cute because he can't say your name right..." "SOAPY!" "...and he always cries when you go off to school...You might actually start to LIKE him."

Robert Neubecker's illustrations are priceless - comically and colorfully depicting the alien newborn, complete with huge eyes and head, the fumes emanating from his car seat, and of course Sophie's alternating expressions of anger, disgust, horror, and eventually - love. Even the font is clever - changing in size and orientation, often appearing as childish scribble.

A humorous and engaging look at the age old problem of the new sibling. Loved it! ( )