|by Daniel Kirk
Once there was a boy. At first, he was so small he didn’t even have a name. But as soon as he was born, the boy began to grow. He kept growing, even though he could not walk, talk or feed himself. When people said, “My, what a big boy you are,” he knew they were right. Before long, the boy could see on top of the table instead of just underneath. He took big steps, ate big meals and used big words. He even slept in a big bed, went to a big school, and played with bigger boys. Soon the boy got so big that his world began to grow too–and as it did, so did the promise of everything he was and everything he would be!
Bold drawings and childlike text come together in a universally appealing book that celebrates the one thing every child can do–get bigger!
Reviews of Bigger
Review from Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
This well-conceived, deceptively simple book about a child’s development …bubbles with satisfaction and wonder.
Review from School Library Journal
Bold, colorful, vibrant. Point of view is handled beautifully to create a child’s-eye view of a very tidy world. Preschoolers will enjoy hearing it in groups or on laps, while being reassured that they, too, will get bigger.
Daniel Kirk speaks about Bigger
Books with odd shapes have always fascinated me.
I thought it would be fun to make a book whose pages got bigger and bigger as you turned them. That was how Bigger got started.
I wanted to tell some kind of story that tied in perfectly with the idea of pages that got bigger. I had an AHA! moment. Children are constantly growing bigger! So I decided to give a child’s-eye view of what it is like to be growing bigger every day. My plan was to show not only physical growth, but also how we grow in our knowledge and understanding of the world. We grow in our capacity for learning and for loving, and our self-esteem grows right along with our accomplishments. We can all grow in some way, every day of our lives![/expand]
Things to think about and do once you have read Bigger
1. In what ways are you growing bigger?
Can you think of some other ways of growing bigger that may not be mentioned in the book?
2. Draw a picture of your family. Who is the biggest in your family?
3. Find out which are the biggest animals in the world. Find out which animals are the smallest!