I Don’t Want to be Small

The little boy is very little, much smaller than his classmates, and this means he can’t ride on the big rides at the fair, and even when he gets hand-me-downs from his brother, they are too big for him. The other children don’t seem to notice him much, and all this makes him so cross that he throws his teddy up in the air – and it lands in a tree! He tries all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to get it down, but nothing works . Along comes a girl, a friendly girl, who is much taller, and together they manage to get teddy down by working together. The humour in this book is super and very appealing, as are the rhyming couplets. Lots of the action is in the illustrations – comic pictures of children with expressive faces. The theme of being able to accept your body as it is remains current and important, as is the need for friends who are willing to help: ‘We play games and laugh for the rest of the day – I’m small and she’s tall and we’re perfect that way.’ Good fun!