When I Grow Up

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The phrase, "When I grow up, I want to be...," typically precedes a career choice, but in this amiable debut volume, Harper fills in the blank with qualities like "brave" and "determined." Each spread presents a single word, hand-printed in colorful capital letters, along with a statement and illustration to demonstrate the ideal. She matches the term "generous" with a winter scene between two friends ("You can have one of my mittens, I'll keep my hand in my pocket"). "Imaginative" pictures a girl, a few thought bubbles and the artistic suggestion, "Let's make something out of this box." Harper short-circuits sentimentality by adopting a na ve folk-art style, la Calef Brown or Rodney Alan Greenblat. Her playful acrylic paintings feature polka-dot frames and a recurrent set of animals, including a blue-green squirrel, a hat-wearing dog and a comical six-legged bug "magnified" by inset windows. Most memorably, Harper uses black-and-white photos of children's faces, seemingly snipped from a grade school yearbook, as collage elements. These illustrations are funny without mocking their anonymous subjects, and they have a do-it-yourself appeal. In addition to youngsters, this volume also suits those who have outgrown childhood, but still aspire to be "confident" and "optimistic." All ages. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

Teaching young children about values is a much-discussed issue in education. Everyone is sure that children should be taught to be generous, patience, optimistic and brave, but no one seems certain who should be responsible for the instruction. Any adult who picks up this book and shares it with a young reader will have the opportunity to open avenues of conversation about values. Each two-page spread presents a desired attribute and examples of ways children can identify with this attribute. In collage format, the author combines children's photographs with objects and ideas that readers can understand. The child who is brave shows a child's bedroom with indications of a monster under the bed. The text reads, "We'll run so fast the monster won't even see us." An effort has been made to present multicultural images and nonthreatening images. Although the author has opened the opportunity for conversation, there will need to be more support materials available for someone who is teaching values to young children. For libraries with limited budgets, I would not recommend this purchase. 2001, Chronicle Books, $14.95. Ages 4 to 6. Reviewer: Joyce Rice

From The Critics

This unique book encourages children to examine the qualities they want to possess when they are grown. It is also a fun way to teach vocabulary with words such as confident, determined, dependable, etc. The illustrations are whimsical, bright and colorful with photographs of children for the faces. The illustrations and descriptions of the words are humorous and will capture the imagination of young children. 2001, Chronicle Books, $14.95. Ages 5 to 10. Reviewer: S. Latson SOURCE: Parent Council, September 2001 (Vol. 9, No. 1)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2-This picture book opens with the statement, "When I grow up I want to be-" and then devotes a double-page spread to each of 14 positive attributes. Each trait is presented on the verso along with an illustrative example portrayed on the recto. A girl shows how "adventurous" she can be when she eagerly agrees to try some "purple and orange polka dot pizza." A boy shows readers how to be "generous" when he shares his mittens with a yellow dog. The final double-page spread, which resembles a classroom bulletin board, encourages readers to apply all the positive characteristics to their daily lives. Harper's cheery illustrations combine acrylic paintings with photographs of children's heads completing the figures. Observant readers will enjoy finding enlarged, framed illustrations of blue bugs and direction lines that point to where the bugs are hiding on each right-hand page. Every page is framed and the textured, vibrant illustrations have a tactile element. Educators may find this colorful book useful when discussing behavior and interactions with others.-Shawn Brommer, South Central Library System, Madison, WI Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.