Big

Bibliography: Harrison, V. (2023). Big. Little, Brown and company. ISBN: 978-0316-35322-9

Plot Summary: She was a little girl in ballet class and everything was great, until she started growing bigger. And everyone kept pointing that out, usually not so nicely.  Being told she was big made her feel small, until she starts "collecting" their words and showing them that they are hurtful, and she begins to love herself for who she is.  And that makes everything good aagain. 

Critical Analysis: The book doesn't focus on the fact that the little girl getting bigger is black, but on the idea that she's getting bigger, which is something all small children can relate to, regardless of race.  The little girl is depicted as a typical little girl with no offensive stereotyping. The message is clear, that words are hurtful, but all they are is words.  You should love yourself for who you are.  The language is simple enough for a young reader to follow.  The illustrations reflect the words on the page in a very literal manner.  As the little girl is continuously told she is getting bigger, the image of her grows larger and larger until she almost doesn't fit the pages.  The colors also reflect as in the beginning, she is depicted wearing pink, but as she begins to be more and more hurt by their words, the illustrator switches to gray, then back to pink when she learns to love herself. I thoroughly enjoyed the read, and it is an important message for readers of any age. 

Reviews:

School Library Journal: "One little book isn’t going to change everyone’s mind about something, but one little book is where you have to start. A superb idea, wrought large."

Kirkus Reviews: "A healing balm with the power to make the world a bit kinder."

Awards:

Caldecott Medal, 2024

National Book Award finalist, 2024

Connections:

In a Kinder through 3rd grade classroom, use as an interactive read aloud, asking students to predict what the book is about or what may happen next as well as open-ended questions as you read.



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