Hi to all the people who have contacted me this week about the publication of my book, Bilingual Siblings: Language Use in Families. Parents and colleagues from around the world are passing on the message, via emails, Facebook, blogs or websites.

I've been interviewed for the USA based newspaper French Morning (http://frenchmorning.com/ny/) and invited to do a talk for the Paris-based Café Bilingue group (http://www.cafebilingue.com)


To organise an interview or talk, or request a review copy contact Suzanne at: bilingsblings@yahoo.com
To order the book either click on the image of the book in the blog toolbar or use the link:
http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781847693266

Thanks,

Suzanne

Review of Bilingual Siblings book

Review:
Multilingual parents are often surprised by the different language preferences of their children. Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert shows just how dynamic the family language situation becomes with the arrival of younger siblings, thus putting the finger on an under-researched area of bilingualism research. She combines academic rigor with extensive hands-on experience and manages to present the issues with vivid descriptions and insightful comments and suggestions. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in bilingual and multilingual families.
Dr.Jean-Marc Dewaele, Birkbeck College, University of London
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/linguistics/our-staff/jean-marc-dewaele

A resounding cheer goes out to Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert for writing this insightful, informative and truly essential book for families raising more than one child in more than one language. This book is packed with research, family profiles, an overview of various myths, personal stories, and much, much more. It is an amazing resource for anyone eager to understand why bilingual children in the same family develop along uniquely individual linguistic paths. My only regret is that this book was not around many years ago before my three children were born.
Corey Heller, Editor-In-Chief of Multilingual Living Magazine
http://www.multilingualliving.com/

Summary of Bilingual Siblings book

Summary:
How do bilingual brothers and sisters talk to each other? Sibling language use is an uncharted area in studies of bilingualism. From a perspective of independent researcher and parent of three bilingual children Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert discusses the issues of a growing bilingual or multilingual family. What happens when there are two or more children at different stages of language development? Do all the siblings speak the same languages? Which language(s) do the siblings prefer to speak together? Could one child refuse to speak one language while another child is fluently bilingual? How do the factors of birth order, personality or family size interact in language production? With data from over 100 international families this book investigates the reality of family life with two or more children and languages.

Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1 – What do we know about Bilingual Families?
Chapter 2 – The Growing and Evolving Family
Chapter 3 – The Sibling Relationship
Chapter 4 – Age Difference, Family Size & Language Orders
Chapter 5 – Gender & Language
Chapter 6 – Birth Order: A Child’s Position in the Family
Chapter 7 – Individual Differences: Same Languages, Different Language Histories
Chapter 8 – Bilingualism and Twins, Adoption, Single parents & Step-families
Chapter 9 – Five Themes on Family Language Use


List price: £18.95 online orders via Multilingual Matters (20% discount) £15.16 US List price: $29.95 online orders via Multilingual Matters (20% discount) $23.96
Format: Paperback (pp: 240) ISBN: 1-84769-326-1 13 Digit ISBN: 978-1-84769-326-6
http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781847693266

How to order the book

My book is available via the UK publishers, Multilingual Matters, if you order via their website there is 20% discount.

http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781847693266

Otherwise, you can order the book worldwide via amazon.com;

http://www.amazon.com/Bilingual-Siblings-Language-Families-Teachers/dp/1847693261/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295365487&sr=1-1

For any questions or comments about the book please email me: bilingsiblings@yahoo.com
or join me at Facebook - Suzanne Barron Hauwaert.

Book cover of Siblings book

At last my second book; Bilingual Siblings: Language Use in Families is published!

The original idea took form nearly four years ago, while we lived in Chicago and I chatted to other mothers with bilingual children over coffee and bagels after school drop-off. We wondered why our children had such different approachs to language use, even with the same parents and languages at home. I began researching the link of siblings with language and psychology in public library in Chicago in the spring of 2007.

A move back to France in the summer put things on hold while I installed my desk, internet and all my books. I set up an online survey which ran for three months over the winter of 2007/2008 and collected information on bilingual siblings from 125 families. With the data in, and three kids at full-time school, I began to write up the findings and link this to previous research and my thoughts on bilingual siblings.

My wonderful editor, Colin Baker, reviewed the work chapter by chapter and finally at the end of 2008 we had a First Draft. This still needed work though and it took another year for the book to be reach Final Draft stage. The book was officially accepted for publication in May 2010. However, corrections, re-writes and final details, like finding a cover photo, took several months. My children have grown-up; Marc, 14 & Nina, 11, are now at secondary school and Gabriel has moved from pre-school to primary school. I am delighted to finally see the book for real and hope you will enjoy reading about Bilingual Siblings!

Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert