"Build.
Big.
Bigger! Bigger!
Bigger!
Bigger!"
Is this a theme? It's wonderful to have received two books about building with blocks on two consecutive days. Here's the second one. My granddaughters love this little pig-tailed girl whose love of life and learning is so evident in the books Leslie Patricelli has written with her as the main character.
She's keen. We can tell by the determined look she gives as she pushes the block box to where she wants to dump them out. And then, they are on the floor, and she is ready for big doings. Her cat and dog are interested observers. She's got the idea, and moves from house to yard. As she does so, fantasy kicks in and we watch as she builds first a dog house (in the style of her first block construction), then a family home, a manor, a road, a bridge, a multi-story building, and a series of skyscrapers. Each one is bigger than the last, and the text shows the progress made. Big, Bigger, Biggest! Then, BOOM! BOOM!
From behind the row of skyscrapers a giant baby emerges - and the little girl is returned to reality. Her baby brother is bent on a crash course in destruction, leaving his sister bereft. Well, both are sad. A solution presents itself in the concept STRONGER! All is well.
Kids who know Ms. Patricelli's board books for toddlers will surely recognize that baby and understand the chaos created. Appealing thick outlines focus attention on the events of this story that celebrates learning through play, imagination and compromise. Simple text, bold color and textured artwork make it a great read aloud for story time with little ones.
If you have not yet seen Higher! Higher! or Faster! Faster! check for them at the public library.
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