Barfburger Baby, I Was Here First
By: Paula Danziger

I read the book Barfburger Baby, I Was Here First and I actually enjoyed the book very much. This book went through the story of a boy, Jonathan, who is now a big brother to baby Daniel. When the story begins, Jonathan despises Daniel, calling him Barfburger Baby and a myriad of other names. By the end of the story, after friends and family have come to visit Daniel, Jonathan has come to the realization that he no longer is the baby of the family, but in a sense this is a relief to him. Two of the reasons that I really liked this book was some of the illustrations really showed what was being said to reinforce the text and how Johnathan ends up changing his attitude by the end of the book due to conversations with other characters.

The illustrations in this book, really take you on a journey with Johnathan. In the beginning of the story, the illustrations depict Daniel, the “Barfburger Baby” as this messy baby that always has spit up and poop on him. This helps to reinforce why Johnathan consistently calls Daniel names such as “Barfburger Baby,” “Gasburger Baby,” and “Poopburger Baby.” As the story progresses, Johnathan begins to think of all the “games” that he and Daniel can play when they get older. Being that Johnathan in a way despises Daniel he thinks of games that are fun for him but would lead to Daniel being in hypothetical danger if the games were real. The illustrations show these games that have popped into Jonathans head, such as darts, pirates, and spaceship. I think the best thing about the illustrations here is that they show what Jonathan imagines the games would look like with Daniel if they were real. In pirates, Johnathan is the captain and is pushing Daniel off the plank into a shark’s mouth. In darts, he is throwing a dart at the target which is on Daniel’s butt. And in spaceship, Johnathan is launching Daniel into space never to return again. I think that these illustrations really add the comedy affect that the author was going for to not make Johnathan seem cruel, just as if he has a sense of humor and doesn’t like his brother at the moment.

How the story progresses to where Jonathan accepts Daniel as his little brother also played a big part in why I liked this so much. In the beginning of the book, Johnathan would constantly call Daniel, the baby, names and at one point was even building a wall of blocks between him and Daniel so he wouldn’t have to look at Daniel. As the story progresses and more people come over to see Daniel, Jonathan is called “Johnathan Pookie Bear” by cousins, aunts, and his grandma. This makes Johnathan feel like a baby when he wants to be seen as a big boy now, since he is five as he states. By the end of the book, Johnathan and his cousin Charlie are now in their own club, “The Big Brother Club.” Being in this club makes Johnathan realize he doesn’t want to be the baby anymore, so he gets over his angst, gives Daniel his stuffed teddy bear, and acts like the big brother he should be. I think this character development of Johnathan makes me like this story because I can relate to how kids act in that manner and grow up.

The main message of this story I believe is, that if you don’t want to be seen as something you aren’t then you need to not act that way. Johnathan didn’t want to be seen as the baby of the family, but continued to act like a baby with the ways he acted towards and treated Daniel. In order to be seen as the big boy he wanted to be he had to act like the big boy. So I think the big idea here is that you need to act the way you want to be treated. ( )

Barfburger Baby I Was Here First is a book about welcoming a new baby into the family. The main character, Jonathon, struggles with jealousy when he gets a new brother but soon learns that being a big brother can be fun. I like this book for many reasons. I believe that this book teaches a great lesson about welcoming a new member into the family and that it could help many children. I also liked the dialogue of the book. From the point of view of Jonathon, the book is simple but also humorous and I believe that children would really enjoy reading this book. ( )

I feel indifferent towards this book. I appreciated the read because it may help new older siblings cope with having everyone’s attention transfer from him to the new baby. This is because the author had the main character realize that his embarrassing nickname as a baby can be transferred from himself to his baby brother. However, I do not think that most new older siblings are mostly concerned with eliminating their embarrassing nicknames, so I do not see this book being very effective in soothing older siblings’ minds. For instance, telling family members that “ he’s (the baby) Daniel the Pookie Bear, and I am Jonathon. JUST Jonathon. And don’t forget that!” is not what most new older siblings wish for. ( )

I liked this book for the characters, they are believable. Readers could relate to becoming an older sibling and how they reacted when it happened. Jonathon did not like the fact that he was no longer the only child and calls his brother "gasburger baby" and "barfburger baby." I also like the story for the illustrations. They enhance the story by putting a face to the characters, that way when they talk about a character readers can imagine the character. The message of this story is that sometimes change can be good. ( )

There are a few reasons why I liked this book. The first reason I liked the book is because of the main character. He was very believable. The boy gets a new baby brother and is very upset about it which many other new siblings would be able to relate to. The boy makes fun of his brother and explains why he does not like him. Then, toward the end of the book the boy begins to accept his brother would would teach young readers to do the same. The second reason I like this book is because of the writing throughout . There is a lot of dialogue which allows the book to be engaging and flow very well. The boy speaks to a lot of people about his younger brother and how he feels about him. The third reason I like this book is because of the language. The boy uses very interesting language while talking about his baby brother. He calls him a, "poopburger baby, a barfburger baby, and giggleburger baby" which are very funny names. I think that when reading the book children would find these names very funny which would make them like the book more. The main idea in this book is to teach children to accept their younger siblings. ( )