As a not-very-tall person myself, I was utterly charmed by the picture book Not Little by Maya Myers, illustrated by Hyewon Yum. Clues to the main character are given right from the front matter: Dot towers over the title page, giving readers immediate insight into this confident child’s sense of self. But the dedication/copyright spread features her tiny shoes next to the much larger footwear of her family, clarifying that this character is indeed very small. As she says throughout the book, however, she is not little. Just the right amount of repetition makes this a great read-aloud, and it’s highly satisfying when Dot stands up for another small classmate in an act that’s both big and brave. Former Abrams associate art director Hana Nakamura (now art director at Norton Young Readers) introduced me to this book. She and her young son love it, too!---from Meredith Mundy, editorial director, preschool, Abrams Children’s Books
40 pages 978-0823446193 Ages 4-8
Keywords: bullying, bullies, friends, helping others, heroes, finding your voice, self image, size, Social Emotional Learning SEL, 4 year old, 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old, 8 year old
********
Just because you're really small doesn't mean you can't have a big heart. When the diminutive Dot stands up to a bully on behalf of an even smaller friend, she proves how big she can truly be.
Dot is the smallest person in her family and at school; even her name is small! People often mistake her for being younger than she is, but not when she tells them the square root of sixty-four is eight, nor when she orders from the grown-up menu at restaurants or checks out the hard books at the library. She may be small, but she's not little.
When a new boy named Sam joins Dot's class, she wonders if he's even smaller than she is. But when she sees him getting bullied by a mean kid twice his size, she knows she has to do the big thing and stand up for him.
Maya Myers's debut picture book has a pitch-perfect voice that captures the inimitable Dot in all her fierceness, and Hyewon Yum's delightful pastel-hued artwork is its perfect complement.---from the publisher
