WHAT WILL I BE?

A picture book brainstorming possibilities for play and for life.

Four diverse, nameless characters try out a variety of professions. As they traipse through a house engaging in imaginative play, rhyming text encourages kids to be engineers, superheroes, and more, using everyday objects. Anyone trying to read for plot must let go quickly, as this book is simply a pep talk about believing “you can be anything at all.” Adults make cameos to put the kids to bed at the end of the night and to help with bathtime but are otherwise absent. This creates a positive feeling about kids self-directing their own destinies with the support of caring adults. Pleasant illustrations are sometimes placed against white backgrounds or against full backdrops of an imagined reality, such as trees. The visual interest on each page may be enough to maintain attention. Opportunities for seek and find, vocabulary building, and imitating activities depicted abound. However, the sheer number of possibilities presented may tire younger kids out or be overstimulating. The text is earnest and abrupt as kids go from racing dragons to pretending to be doctors to hunting dinosaur fossils in the space of a few spreads. The breadth of ideas helps ensure most will find something of interest, but they may not make it cover to cover. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

No harm done but not captivating.