TOO BIG!

Masurel’s story is a funny and sympathetic turning of the tables on that childhood blight of being “too small.” Charlie wins Big Tex—a blue-and-white striped dinosaur—at a carnival. He is large, towering not just over Charlie, but his mother and father as well. So Tex is often left at home while Charlie goes on adventures to the store, park, and circus, with other, smaller toy friends. One day, when Charlie is feeling sick, these toy friends conspire to get lost, and Tex gets his chance, accompanying the boy to the doctor’s. Tex finds no doors closed to him thereafter. There is a heavy identification factor that will pass no child unnoticed, and Masurel exhibits a dexterous use of language that is intelligent, accessible, and euphonious. Wakiyama’s accompanying illustrations are exquisite. Making sport of light and shadow, as well as distant perspectives that are still emotionally revealing, she creates a dinosaur for all ages: alluring, comforting, loyal, soothing to the eye, and silent. (Picture book. 2-6)