Brian Biggs

Max declares that he can't draw, despite evidence to the contrary (e.g. perfectly serviceable crayon renditions of astronaut cats). Max's best friend Eugene is the best artist in the class, and Max's drawings do look rudimentary in comparison. Eugene is willing to help Max improve his drawing skills (there's a hilarious skewering of those "how to draw" books in the middle of the story, and on the endpapers too) and finally they hit upon tracing...but then Max gets bored and they decide to show more have fun instead. "No one can draw like me," Max concludes cheerfully.

A sly celebration of artistic creativity as at least equally important as technical skill, and a nice friendship between the two boys as well. Max appears white and wears glasses, Eugene looks Black.

See also: I Can Only Draw Worms by Will Mabbit, The Dot by Peter Reynolds show less

It's the first day of school at Tinyville Town Elementary, and everyone in town, from the young students themselves to the teachers, bus-drivers and cafeteria ladies who work with them, is getting ready. Young Ellie Emberley is new in town, and the narrative uses her experiences as a focal point, exploring life at school, and in the wider community.

Like its predecessor, Tinyville Town Gets to Work, Tinyville Town: Time for School! is an engaging picture-book, one which offers a snapshot of a show more community coming together and working toward a common goal: namely, educating the town's children. If the community here is somewhat idealized - everyone is helpful, cheerful, and harmonious in their relations with others - it is also diverse, and offers a hopeful vision, perhaps not of how things are, but of how they might be. Cynics may scoff, but I can't think of anything more vital to offer young people during these divisive times, than a hopeful vision (it probably isn't a coincidence that I am a huge Star Trek fan). Colorful artwork, featuring cartoon-style people and places, adds to the overall sense of fun. Recommended to anyone looking for new back-to-school stories, as well as to those searching for picture-books about the life of communities. show less

I looked briefly at this picture book a while ago, but when I received a review copy of the original picture book and three of the accompanying board books I decided to do a longer post, especially as I have a large community program coming up.

Tinyville Town is a creation of Brian Biggs, a whole world that is caught between the cozy, imaginary ideal of the 1950s and the diverse, tolerant world of the future (well, hopeful future).

The picture book which introduces Tinyville Town tells the show more story of a typical day. Everyone is getting ready for work and everyone has a job (no unemployment here). But there's a problem - a traffic jam on the bridge over the river! How will the people get to work. Fortunately, everyone works together for a solution. The mayor meets with the engineer and city planner, the various construction people put the bridge together, and voila, Tinyville Town has a new bridge!

Biggs' cheerful, colorful, chunky pictures show a remarkable diversity of colors and genders, all working hard to keep their city functioning and beautiful.The city is clean and friendly, everyone is smiling and even when there are problems they work together to make things end well. As you might have guessed, I am not a person who really likes or feels comfortable with this utopian-style vision of, well, anything. But I admit that's a personal quirk and for teachers, parents, or librarians looking for titles on how communities work together or construction this is a great choice.

After introducing Tinyville Town, Biggs branched out into a series of board book introducing various community workers. Each title uses simple sentences to describe the day's work of the various people. The veterinarian examines a dog and finds out why his tummy hurts. The firefighter puts out a fire at the bakery. The librarian answers questions, helps people find books, and puts the books away. These titles reflect the same cozy feeling of community as well as diversity; the vet is female and her husband cares for their child, the librarian appears to be gay, the firefighter's crew includes women and people of color.

I don't doubt the usefulness of these titles in a classroom setting or program on community helpers (although I suspect that mustache is a safety hazard and I have complicated feelings about the depiction of a male librarian which many of my colleagues share). I'm a little doubtful about these being good board books though. The typical audience for board books is ages 0-2 and these are definitely aimed at a preschool audience. The longer text, more complex pictures, and subject matter of community helpers is too advanced for the average toddler. However, there are plenty of uses for board books with preschoolers and these would make a good addition to a board book collection.

Verdict: While I'm not as gung ho about these titles as some of my colleagues are, due to my innate cynicism and some personal feelings about representation, they are certainly standard additions to any library for community helpers units and present a pleasing depiction of a community-minded city with a broad range of diversity.

Tinyville Town
ISBN: 9781419721335

I'm a veterinarian
ISBN: 9781419721359

I'm a librarian
ISBN: 9781419723223

I'm a firefighter
ISBN: 9781419721342

Published 2016 by Abrams; Review copies provided by publisher; Donated to the library show less

When Mayor Murphy is kept waiting by the bus one morning, he goes to investigate and discovers that everything in Tinyville Town has been delayed by a massive traffic jam coming across the small town's single bridge. Responding to the demands of the populace, the mayor begins the process of getting a new and improved bridge built, so that Tinyville Town residents can get to work more expeditiously...

The first of a prospective picture-book series about the doings of Tinyville Town - there are show more already a number of accompanying board-books that examine specific people in town, from the veterinarian to the librarian - Tinyville Town Gets to Work is described by its creator as a tribute to the workings of communities, whether big or small. Although not destined to become a personal favorite of mine, there is definitely a place for stories such as this, and children who enjoy books about construction sites will appreciate the story, as will anyone looking for tales featuring the everyday doings of ordinary citizens, and their involvement in problem-solving for the community. show less