Sweet Siblings: Too Small for Honey Cake

I never grow tired of this book. In fact, I love it more each time we read it. We were given this book when my youngest was a newborn and my eldest was nearly 2. It was so appropriate (and still is) and the old friend who gave it to us knew just what we were getting ourselves into, herself the mother of two grown children.


Too Small for Honey Cake (Strictly By-the-Book, August 2008), written by Gill Lobel and illustrated by Sebastien Braun, is a must for parents adjusting to parenting more than one child. It's a sweet story about brother foxes, one a preschooler and the other an infant. Little Fox feels as though he has been replaced by the new baby in his family. He craves his dad's attention so much that when he doesn't get it he revolts and misbehaves. Feeling unwanted and sad, he rushes off to hide. Daddy Fox soon realises that while the new baby needs him his older son needs his love and attention just as much but in a different way.

The girls love this one and I often pull it out when they've had trouble sharing or working something out on their own. It's a good lesson in kindness and being respectful of others. I really like the fact that there isn't a mother present in the story. It's just a dad and his two sons living day to day life. Mummy could be out bringing home the bacon or perhaps daddy is just a single parent. Daddy washes the laundry and bakes the honey cake and, most importantly, creates a loving home for his family.

You might have to do a little bit of searching in order to get your hands on a copy of Too Small for Honey Cake. It's sold out at Chapters but available online at amazon.com as well as amazon.ca (where it's on sale) and, of course, your local library.