Be You Big

by Raven Howell, Anke Rappe (Illustrator)

Overview

"Be you big, be you small, be you short, be you tall..."

Words to inspire living, learning, and blooming in our own remarkable ways, Be You Big motivates children to embrace themselves just as they are, celebrating self-acceptance and beauty in uniqueness.

A lyrical encouragement to blossom like a flower, stand as rugged as a mountain, or float about calm as the sea to incite a joyous heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781950169740
Publisher:	Spork
Publication date:	05/03/2022
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

Editorial Reviews

2022-06-17
A Valentine’s Day–themed profession of unconditional love for children, organized as an opposites book.

The interesting construction of the title segues to a list of adjectives: be you big, small, short, tall, skinny, round, never lost, always found…you are a “Valentine delight.” Rappen’s fanciful, friendly, lineless watercolor art—illustrating concepts like big(a light-skinned blond child swims near an enormous blue whale) and small(a brown-skinned child smaller than a squirrel squats under a mushroom)—will entertain and inspire imagination. In this world, children could even be flowers or trees. Some images appear to rely on gender stereotypes (“rugged mountain” is a boy, and “calmest sea” is a girl; “shy” is a girl with deer horns, and “proud” is a boy riding a dragon). Though Howell’s narrative is ostensibly from a parent’s perspective and the text seems ideal for a lap-sit between reader and child, the illustrations nevertheless depict a girl courting a boy as the expansive love described in the first section of the book narrows its scope down to Valentine themes. The large sans-serif font enables easy legibility for early readers. The enjoyable visual details prompt discussion of the concepts and provoke dialogue between parent and child.

A tame, sweetly illustrated seasonal opposites book.

Kirkus Reviews