I DON'T WANT TO BE SMALL

A red-spectacled Black youngster has had it with being small!

Everyone in class can whoosh around on the big rides at the fair while this kid is stuck twirling about on the boring kiddie rides. It’s humiliating trying on older brother’s hand-me-downs: None of them fit. Fed up, the kid flings Teddy Bear into the air—and into a tall tree! How to rescue Teddy? Gorging on greens to force a growth spurt just produces gas. Emulating a potted flower just gets the narrator muddy and wet. Teddy is doomed. Along comes a White-presenting girl who towers over the narrator, but even she can’t reach the beleaguered bear. The kid gets another idea. What if the narrator climbs on her shoulders? Voilà—success! Teddy, the narrator, and the girl become bosom buddies, regardless of their height disparity. “So yes, I am small, / But now I don’t mind. / I’ve made a new friend, / and she’s mightily kind!” Alas, Anderson’s perky (some might say cutesy) rhyme scheme isn’t enough to overcome the plot holes (where did that tree come from, anyway?) and the fact that this Black child needs the help of a White kid to solve the problem. Moreover, the story indicates no benefits to being small—despite the flap copy’s promise of reinforcement of self-esteem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Well-intentioned but clumsily executed.