Brothers And Sisters

My lil sis has been posting videos and pics of her two sons and I have to say I love how much they adore each other.  My other two nephews are also very tight...which made me then want to call my siblings and have awesome conversations with all of them.  I love that no matter how far apart we are we are still each others best friends (and best enemies on occasion).  I love my Hubbin and his brother are close and I love that this sibling bond is being taught to the next generations in our families. My Daddy used to tell every day when we left the house, watch out for each other, then you will always have each other and this is true to this day.  Here are some of my favorite books/series that feature a some sort of sibling relationship.

Little Women by Lousia May Alcott- This has always been one of my favorite books, mostly 'cause the sisters and their relationship is very similar to the one I have with my two sisters.  We still play, fight, talk, get jealous of, tease, console and are always there for each other, the addition of my brothers wife, and my SIL have just added to the feeling of sisterly bonding that this book embodies.  And I have to imagine that my brother felt a wee bit like Laurie growing up, having to deal with all the girls with no brothers to help him out :-) (I know Laurie wasn't their real brother, but he may as well have been).

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling-There are several examples of siblings and their various relationships throughout the books.  There is the interwoven Black family with Bellatrix and Nacissa, there is Hagrid and his giant half brother, there is the twins Padma and Parvati, there are the Creevy brothers, but of course my favorites are the Weasley children. Again the chaos, lack of money and abundance of love remind me of my own wild and wonderful family, even their "adopting" of Harry is similar to what my parents did on a regular basis.  I love that the boys are all different, yet when push comes to shove they are there for each other, and they are all so wonderfully protective of Ginny...who could probably out hex them all.  I even liked that the author put in a falling out with Percy and the rest of the family ('cause this actually happens in a lot of families) and the pain it caused and the reconciliation at the end of the series.  Love this family!

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis- Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were the first characters that I made my siblings play in games while we were growing up (with Edmund being turned into Edwina 'cause we had three girls and one boy).  I always identified with the four kids going off and having adventures, turning on each other, fighting, making up, bossing each other, it always felt so real...'cause that is how me and my siblings acted.  It always made this book feel all that much more possible and many a hide and seek game was arranged in the fervent hope that one of us would stumble upon a magic world to share with the others. I think that by creating a play world for ourselves we did eventually find our magic, and it persists to this day.

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull-This series features a brother and sister duo.  I love reading about brother sister duo's 'cause it has all the elements of guys and girls...without the stupid romance part.  You can have the snarky back and forth, you can have the love and protectiveness, you can have the special bond and the unique angst all without the inaneness that comes with certain romances.  This series sums up all the above with an adventure twist.  Kendra is the quintessential young teenaged older sister, bossy, a bit angsty, a bit self absorbed but fiercely protective if not annoyed with her little brother.  Seth...well Seth could have been based on my brother.  Seth is an 11 year old boy through and through, he does things without thinking of the consequences, likes to think that he is fearless, and would do anything to help his sister. The two of them are very realistic as far as siblings go, and the books show their relationship grow and change as the series progresses.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin-I like the sisters in this book because it shows that as much as you may love all your siblings...you don't have to like them all equally.  Elizabeth is very clear in her preference for Jane and Lydia and Kitty may as well be best friends as well as siblings.  The other sibling relationships in this book are far from perfect as well, the Bingley sisters (especially Caroline) trying to bend their poor sweet brother to their matrimonial plans is both amusing and unfortunately way to common. Mrs. Bennets dependence on her sister Mrs. Philips for gossip and consolation and her utter need for her brother Mr. Gardiner when life gets tough shows the various dynamics one can play in a sibling role.  Of course the sweetest sibling relationship is between Mr. Darcy and his much younger sister Georgianna.  This one is different because the age difference makes it much more of a protector/protectee then one of companionship.

I could go on and on and on, there are so many books that explore the various meanings of siblingship.  There are full-blooded siblings, half siblings, adopted siblings, step-siblings, foster siblings.  Stories where the relationship is good, stories where it is bad, stories where it is indifferent.  I chose stories about fairly healthy relationships here because I am missing all my sibs today and want to focus on the happy.  Maybe later I will do a post about some not so healthy sibling relationships (I'm looking at you Jamie and Cersie).  I hope this has inspired you to call, text, message or skywrite your sibling(s) today and let them know that even though they are always wrong, you really love them and could not imagine life without them. Bubby, lil sis and baby sis, I love you guys so much!!!!!!!!

Do you have any siblings?  Do you like them?  Do you bond over Harry Potter books in the geekiest way possible like me and mine do? What is your favorite story of siblings?