The Big Box

A book off the UU minister's bookshelf--I found it depressing, disturbing, and leaving me with a lot to think about. I suppose Morrison's box represents the proverbial round holes into which we expect/teach our kids to conform as we sand & file away the corners of the children's personalities with rules, regulations, and expectations. I am still wondering about the references to the visits by the parents who bestow upon the pent up children expensive gifts and representations of the outside world instead of actually letting them out of their boxes.....

ohhhhh......just writing that made it all come together for me. I just changed my rating from 3 to 5. I just needed to sort out my thoughts! This poetry is worth reading, but I recommend show more it to adults, as what my 9-year-old son took away from it was, "If I am bad, I may get all of my privileges taken away, and perhaps if I'm really bad, I'll end up in a box!" He certainly wasn't able to grasp the social commentary aspect, yet. show less

I would call this realistic fiction because the reader can look at the big brown box in a realistic way or metaphorical but the plot itself is something that many children deal with when growing up. I thought it was interesting that Morrison's son Slade was the creator of this book when he was nine years old. I think that is an age when a lot of children are first starting to 'stretch' and explore their boundaries. Toni Morrison added the verse to the writing to complete the repetitive theme. By the end of the book I was wishing that the two Morrisons had found different ways of expressing the children losing their freedom rather than repeating the same verse but there was enough alternative information for every child that it still show more worked. I really loved how detailed the illustrations are. They give so much detail to the book without it needing to be overly wordy and they really let you dive into these children's worlds and personalities. Each one is a fully developed and characteristic person. Definitely odd but a great conversation starter on children's behavior and how to know where limits are and when to be humbled by an adults desires and when even as a child to speak up and plead your case. There is a difference between talking back and actually defending yourself and a lot of children's opinions get over looked or written off by adults who 'know better'. show less

Comfort the Disturbed, Disturb the Comfortable would be a perfect subtitle for this book for those who don't understand its power. Nobel Prize -winning author and poet Toni Morrison really socks it to us with The Big Box, an illustrated poem about three children who get punished just for being themselves. Featuring a multiracial cast illustrated by Morrison's Slade, The Big Box will chill the spine of all but the most unfeeling adults and give context and power to any child who has felt caged. The text of the poem is deceptively simple, with (over)tones at multiple levels of access for multiple kinds of readers. Recommended for children 5 and up and the adults in their lives.

Three different children are locked away in a big box by their parents "for their own good" because of their inability to adhere to society and their parents' rules.

This book addresses the way that children can be shut down and punished for not fitting the mold that society want them to and whether or not it is right to restrict someone's freedom simps because they do not do things the way you believe they should. I remember getting this book from my mother when I was four and feeling a freedom from reading it, I thought it was also cool that it was written by one of the people I was named after and she wrote it the year I was born because perhaps she knew that I needed it to help navigate the world.

Read in [b:A Toni Morrison Treasury:|101138673|A Toni Morrison Treasury The Big Box; The Ant or the Grasshopper?; The Lion or the Mouse?; Poppy or the Snake?; Peeny Butter Fudge; The Tortoise or ... Little Cloud and Lady Wind; Please, Louise|Toni Morrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1679846591l/101138673._SX50_.jpg|124652463]. Not sure how much I enjoyed it. Admire the heck out of it, though, for the right audience. These are good kids: normal, healthy kids. They just want the freedom to act like kids, have adventures, and be loved.

This realistic fiction depicted the lives of students in our classrooms. I would use this picture book to teach my students that it is perfectly fine to be rambunctious. The illustrator did a wonderful job depicting the characters as people coming from a racially diverse background. This taught the reader that children's behavior is not tied to any race or ethnicity.

I was very impressed by how effortlessly complex ideas about natural behavior and societal expectations were portrayed. The language is brisk and fun, the children come from all walks of life, and the pictures are beautiful. This would be an excellent book to use to talk about rules, freedom, and fairness.