**Winner of the 2024 Caldacott Medal for most distinguished American picture book for children.**
Big by Vashti Harrison is such a beautiful picture bo**Winner of the 2024 Caldacott Medal for most distinguished American picture book for children.**
Big by Vashti Harrison is such a beautiful picture book that will give you big feelings. Longlisted for the 2023 National Book Awards for Young People’s Literature, this is the first picture book both written and illustrated by Harrison (already well beloved for her artwork in Hair Love, Sulwe or her Little Dreamers & Little Leaders board books) and I hope she will do many more. This is a heartbreaking but important little story, one that follows a child who experiences the daily hurt of body shaming and and must find a way to make space for herself and love herself despite the cruel words of others. It it a really well done look at the small boxes social expectations try to fit everyone in, especially with oppressive "beauty" and body standards. I urge anyone with five minutes to spare to check this one out, and be ready because this is a tearjerker where we have to experience a young child feeling shame for being herself.
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I knew I had to read this after Karen’s lovely review and I’m glad I did. It’s tragic to think of small children unsure what to make of being teased for something that they cannot control and weren’t even aware of until being teased, judged and compared with others. The opening broke my heart, the little girl growing up at home hearing she is loved, beautiful and a good girl then entering school with her peers to suddenly experience fatphobia and be made to feel ashamed for her body size.
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Harrison makes excellent use of the page with gorgeous artwork and the way she tells the story with very minimal narration with the imagery working just as hard as any words could, makes it hit even harder. The way she uses words in the images—such as the child holding onto the hurtful words and having to learn what to do with them—was very well done. It’s also a reminder how cruel people can be, and even when faced with the effects of their actions and words they often refuse to take responsibility and double down on shaming the person who is trying to express their hurt (such as one figure who blames the girl for just “being too sensitive”). But the important lesson is to be yourself for you, to stand up for yourself, love yourself and find a way to make space for yourself. The latter is pulled off beautifully by introducing pages that unfold to quite literally give more space.
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*Girl holding words said to her and saying “There are yours, they hurt me”
Big is a quiet but powerful picture book full of important lessons that doesn’t hide the harshness of society but still presents it in a palatable way that will be engaging and healing for both children and their adults reading it to them. It is a gorgeous little book and you should definitely read this, even just for yourself, because Harrison has created a very lovely work of art....more
s.penkevich
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