When I Grow Bigger - Hardcover

PreSchool-Grade 2-A cutting look at children's games of one-upmanship. Baby Thomas watches his older sister Leanne and her two friends boast about how high they'll be able to reach when they grow taller and endures their taunts that he is too little to be any fun. When they try to stretch him by pulling his arms and legs, Dad steps in, lifting Thomas to his shoulders. Now the baby is "almost as high as the sky," and Leanne and her friends feel insignificant. The illustrations, flat watercolor figures rounded with pencil crosshatching, authenticate the children's experiences. Through expressions and body language, the characters display a wide range of emotions. Little background is shown-just some dirt, grass, and sky. The layout is varied-some pages are broken into panels, almost like a comic strip; one page shows lonely Thomas sitting by his dad's daffodils, surrounded by white space. There is little plot development, which will keep the story from becoming a read-aloud standard. Still, the believable situation will generate empathy in readers and make the book a useful discussion-starter.
Nancy Seiner, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A baby's-eye view of "big" kids and the frustrations of being small are drawn out to almost exasperating lengths in this wordy picture book. Baby Thomas is constantly teased by his older sister and her friends that he's "just a little 'un," and they exclude him when they go to play in "Thomas's dad's" (an awkward phrase used repeatedly) wheelbarrow. The kids' play quickly erupts into bickering, and when Thomas's dad comes on the scene, his entrance is impressive. Filling the double-page spread with a Paul Bunyan-like presence, he scoops up tiny, low-to-the-ground Thomas, who first recognizes his father by the sight of his boots. The soft, sketchy watercolor-and-pencil illustrations have appeal; however, the quasi-comic strip format grows confusing as the story unfolds. The text rambles tediously as the children next attempt to "MAKE THOMAS GROW!" by physically stretching him. When Dad again intervenes, a happy Thomas rides atop his father's huge shoulders, satisfied to see the big kids look "up, up, up, at Big Thomas having fun." But by the time Thomas reaches new heights, the reader's interest may well have fallen off. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.