Tell Me What It's Like to Be Big

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0152025642, Hardcover)

When Willa the rabbit wakes up early one morning, she pulls on her jumpsuit ("this way... and that way... until it was right.") and chicken slippers, and heads downstairs for breakfast. Unfortunately, she can't reach. Big brother Willoughby to the rescue! After waking her brother, Willa plies him with questions about getting big. Willoughby replies with exactly the kind of answers a toddler needs: "You'll be able to brush your own teeth without any help... And when you're really big, nearly as big as I'll be, you might be able to reach the moon in a rocket!" It's only when Willoughby informs his little sister that she'll be too big for toys that the pleasant future-fantasizing screeches to a halt. "I don't ever want to be big," Willa says. Fortunately, Willoughby is thoughtful enough to know when to turn the reins over to someone older, wiser, and infinitely comforting: Mom.

In this sequel to the endearing Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go to Sleep Joyce Dunbar and Debi Gliori bring back this cuddly pair of siblings for another reassuring tale about childhood worries. Gliori's colorful illustrations are a veritable patchwork quilt of patterns and cozy objects. (Ages 3 to 7) --Emilie Coulter