The Bestest Big Brother, Ever

By Author / Illustrator

Ben Mantle

Genre

Friends and family

Age range(s)

Publisher

Walker Books

ISBN

9781529506099

Format

Hardback

Published

25-09-2025

Synopsis

An honest, funny and hopeful portrayal of tricky sibling dynamics from Ben Mantle, the illustrator of Bunnies on a Bus and Bunnies in a Boat. With stunning illustrations, this is a must-have book for children aged 3-6 with brothers or sisters, and for parents and teachers who want to teach kids about sibling relationships and how to resolve disagreements and conflicts themselves.

"I love my big brother, Felix.
We can read each other's MINDS.
We can take over the WORLD together.
He is the bestest big brother ever."

Nano loves his big brother, Felix, but sometimes Felix gets annoyed and frustrated - he wants some SPACE; he's fed up of Nano following him around. Feeling hurt and sad after Felix bans him from the garden treehouse, Nano decides he can make his own fun. He doesn't need anyone else. But when his game in the garden goes wrong, and he ends up feeling even worse than he already did, there's only one person who knows exactly how to cheer him up. Can you guess who that is?

Writing from his own fraternal experience, as well as being a dad to two little boys himself, Ben Mantle captures all the little (and big) ups and downs, laughs and tears (and sometimes shouts!), of sibling relationships that will give children the confidence to try and sort out their own differences through patience, imaginative play and making compromises.

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Reviews

Jen

The Bestest Big Brother, Ever is a quality book which was an instant hit in my house. My three-year-old said 'that's just like me and my big sister!'; I have never read such a good book about sibling relationships.

The Bestest Big Brother, Ever is written from the younger brother's point of view. He thinks he is being a great brother and that his brother loves everything he does. This is not quite true. I love how they fall out and how they make up; wonderful story telling!

This picture book and it's illustrations are 'totally grape' (read the book!). I will be looking out for other books by this author.

Picture book / Reviewed by Jen Bevan, teahcer