You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant

You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant
Buy You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Zoe Morris
Summary: Am I small, or are you just big? This question, and more, answered in this fun picture book.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: September 2014
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
ISBN: 978-1444918304
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One of the running gags in my office (at the big, proper, grown up Management Consultancy, for crying out loud) is that I am little, my feet don’t touch the floor, I can’t see over the new desk dividers etc etc. What this book teaches us is that it’s all relative. And by that I don’t mean my mum’s also short (though she is).

Meet little purple critter. He is small. Big orange critter tells him so. And indeed, he is smaller than big orange critter, just a fraction of his size. But wait. What if he’s not small, but big orange critter is the weirdo? What is he’s big? Did you ever think of that, Mr big orange critter?

Indeed he did, but look, here are lots more big orange critters. They’re all the same as him. It’s definitely the other way round. This goes back and forth for a bit, other sized creatures emerge and we finally get to a nice, acceptable compromise: it’s all relative depending on who you’re near, and someone can be big in one situation and small in another. Phew.

This seems like a simple book but it has an important message: we are all different and we should value said differences and love people just the way they are. What’s more, it’s a book about standing up for yourself, being who you are, and not being ashamed of it.

Aimed at the pre-school brigade, this is a fun read with minimal wording. The pictures are clear (and repetitive) and the words, too, are clear and repetitive. Nothing superfluous is added. We don’t have names for our heroes, and we don’t really know what sort of animal/monster they are. They’re just things with enough familiar characteristics (arms, legs, noses, facial expressions) to be cure not scary.

I’m not sure this book would capture the imagination for too long as there’s no story to it and I imagine they’d tire easily of it, but it would be a cute one to borrow from the library or to have in a reading corner at nursery or playgroup, so for that it’s recommended.

Thanks go to the publishers for supplying this book.

The Big Adventure of the Smalls by Helen Stephens is also for this age group and our reviewer seemed to like it!

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You can read more book reviews or buy You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant at Amazon.com.

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