TaleForMe
A book for the one who was here first
The new baby gets a hundred presents. This one is for them.
Everybody arrives with something for the baby. The three-year-old watching from the doorway gets a cuddle and a lot of sentences beginning “you’re a big girl now”.
This is a book with their name on the cover, about their house, their family and the very specific week they are having — in which a baby also happens to arrive.
It is allowed to be annoying
A story where the big sister is delighted from page one is a story a real big sister does not believe. Ours are permitted to find the baby loud, boring and deeply unfair, because that is the honest middle of the book and it is the reason the ending lands.
What the story does not do is tell them off for feeling it. The feeling is named, sat with, and then something changes — usually something small and specific, which is how it actually goes.
Before or after the birth, and both work
Before: the baby is coming, the room is changing, and the story rehearses it. You can name the baby if you have chosen one, or leave them as “the baby” if you have not.
After: the baby is here, and the book is about the house as it is now — the noise, the visitors, and where this particular child fits in it.
- The big brother or sister is the hero; the baby is a character, not the subject
- Parents, grandparents and pets can all be in it by name
- The dedication page is a good place for the sentence you keep meaning to say
Twins, steps, adoptions and the rest of real families
Tell us the shape of your family in the “something special” box and the story is written around that, not around a default one. A new stepbrother, a baby arriving to a different house, two at once, a long wait that finally ended — all of it is ordinary to us and none of it needs explaining twice.
Books like this
Questions
Can I put the new baby’s name in it?
Yes. Add the baby as a family member like anyone else. If the name is not decided, leave it out — the story simply calls them the baby, and it reads perfectly well.
My child is not excited about this at all. Is that a problem?
It is the opposite of a problem — it is the best possible thing to put in the “something special” box. A story that starts where your child actually is does far more good than one that starts where everyone wishes they were.
Is this suitable for a two-year-old?
Yes. Tell us their age and the book gets shorter, the sentences get simpler and the plot gets smaller. A two-year-old’s book and a six-year-old’s book about the same event are not the same book.
Can grandparents order it as a gift?
Yes, and it is a good one — it is the present that is not for the baby. You will need the child’s details, which most grandparents have.
Make their big-sibling book
Five minutes, nothing to pay, and you read the opening pages before you decide.