My Brother Is from Outer Space: (The Book of Proof)

Alex compares his younger brother William with himself and concludes that because William is so different, he must have come from outer space to join this otherwise perfect family.

Grade 2-4?A mildly amusing sibling rivalry tale presented as a child's scrapbook. Alex and his parents are, in his words, "the perfect family," until his brother, William, is born. Alex is convinced that his younger sibling was switched at the hospital and that William is an alien. After years of trying to get his parents to accept "the ugly truth," he gives up and hides his book of proof. At the end of the story, the now college-aged Alex finds the book and shows it to William. He has a good laugh and admits that he always thought Alex just a little weird, too. Elements of the story range from clever to just plain silly. Some of the humor seems forced, but the point is made that very different people can belong in one family. However, it is the design and the illustrations that make this book interesting. They are done in acrylics with colored-pencil highlights and photo collage elements that appear to be taped or drawn onto notebook paper giving the scrapbook effect. Brace's art is much like Lane Smith's work in The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Viking, 1989).?Jane Claes, T. J. Lee Elementary School, Irving, TX
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Certain that aliens stole his real brother from the hospital nursery and substituted William in his place, Alex confronts his parents with the "awful truth" in this tongue-in-cheek take on sibling rivalry. Unconvinced by his parent's reassurances, Alex fills a notebook with evidence supporting his theory: William "tries to copy human sleep behavior, but he gets it all wrong," because he tosses and turns, talks in his sleep and sometimes even falls off the bed. He plays basketball with "superhuman" powers and gets good grades even though he always clowns around at school. Ostrow, in her picture book debut, conveys a worthwhile message about accepting siblings' differences, but her occasionally rambling text lacks the zip and cleverness that the book's title seems to promise. More consistently entertaining, newcomer Brace's stylized illustrations, mostly acrylics with a bit of photo-collage, intermittently depicts the alleged alien with blue skin and antennae. The design appealingly features a typeface imitative of a child's uneven printing against blue-lined, notebook-page backgrounds. Ages 5-9.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

For readers who also suspect their siblings are aliens from another planet: Meet Alex, the narrator of this book of evidence against his brother's being human. The facts: As a baby, William babbled; he is from a family of short people but is tall; he never mastered the human art of sleeping calmly in a bed. Alex presents his evidence to his parents, who give him the brush; not until Alex is about to depart for college do the brothers confront each other, when it turns out that William has been nursing his own suspicions about Alex. The concluding illustration shows William with antennae and a cerulean complexion. The text, in a typeface that approximates hand-lettering, flows comfortably into the goofy, friendly illustrations, which convey the playful sentiments of the story. It may inspire similar investigations in many households. (Picture book. 5-9) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 5^-8. Because he and his new brother are so different from each other, Alex is convinced that William is an alien from another planet. When he tells his parents "the awful truth," they just laugh and show him pictures of other family members who look and behave differently. Not deterred, Alex creates this "Book of Proof" to back up his claim. Quirky cartoon illustrations provide the perfect complement to the clever text, which looks as if it has been handwritten and appears on pages made to look like notebook paper. This humorous book about sibling rivalry isn't quite as witty and visually appealing as Kevin Henkes' Julius, the Baby of the World (1990), but youngsters, particularly those with new brothers or sisters, will thoroughly enjoy it. Lauren Peterson