Book Review: Big by Vashti Harrison

Big
by Vashti Harrison

 Book Cover Picture:

 

Category: Texas 2X2

 

Target Age Group: 4-11 years, preschool-4th grade

 

Format: eBook

 

Summary:A young girl grows up hearing how big she is as a good thing until one day a recess things change. She gets stuck in the swing at school and the word "big" takes on a whole new meaning filled with anti-fat connotations and people making fun of her size. She learns to stand up for herself and find her worth in herself and not others.

 

Justification: Big is the winner of the 2023 Caldecott Medal, A Coretta Scott King Award Author and Illustrator Honor book, a National Book Award finalist and a New Your times bestseller.  It is also on the 2023 Texas 2X2 book list.

 

Review: This review will examine the illustrations, the over all message and the characters. 

The illustrations in this book are done in chalk pastel colors.This lends a childlike whimsy to the drawings. Reminding the reader, and perhaps even to remind the characters, that even though the main character is "big" she is still a child.  When the words of others start to cut down and dim the light of the young girl, she turns grey, she's losing her luster and her childhood. There is a point where the girl feels confined and too big and physically pushes the boundaries of the page and takes over the span of the pages. This imagery is so moving.

 

The overall message of this story hits home for me. I have been on the bigger side most of my life. I can feel the girl's feelings and when she finally lets it all out and takes ownership for how she wants to define herself, giving back the words that hurt, is so powerful.  Spoiler Alert- An interesting thing to note, when the girl lets it all out and the words used to describe her bleed all over the page, "big" is in pink, which we associate with the "good" words. The reader can see that we choose how to define ourselves. If a reader falls more in line with the sub characters, the ones that are making fun of her size or the adults that try to make her grow up faster just because she is bigger than other kids, they can see and feel how these words cut and hurt.

 

The main character is a young girl. Unnamed. This helps the reader connect on a deeper level to the girl. This could be me, I could insert my own name into this story. The reader can feel what its like to be cut down by words. But they can also feel her eventual empowerment of standing up to her bullies. She gives the hurtful words back and finds worth in herself. Also the main character is in color where the side characters are in black and white, or just silhouettes which puts emphasis on the feelings and ultimately the empowerment of our main character.

 

I checked this book out from Libby, and read it digitally. I love the ability to check out electronic books from my library, and being able to input multiple library cards into the app to check the catalogs of everywhere at once. I typically read digital books on my phone using the Kindle or Libby apps. However, since this was a picture book, I wanted a bigger screen to simulate the size of a picture book. I would recommend reading picture books with your kids on a bigger screen so they can fully appreciate the illustrations. Once I upgraded my screen to a computer monitor, it felt like reading a physical book.

Overall, I give this powerful, beautifully illustrated book 5 out of 5 stars :O.

 

Resources

Harrison, V. ( 2023). Big (V. Harrison, Illus.) [eBook edition]. Little Brown Books for Young Readers.