cover image My Little Brother

My Little Brother

David M. McPhail. Harcourt Children's Books, $16 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-15-204900-3

""Little brothers can be a lot of trouble,"" begins My Little Brother by David McPhail, a companion to Sisters. A disgruntled older sibling narrates his litany of perceived unfair situations (""It's my job to feed our puppy and clean up her messes. All my little brother does is play ball with her""), depicted with softly edged watercolors over pen-and-ink drawings. The book's more optimistic ending suggests that brotherly bonds are stronger than the daily discord.