AM I SMALL?

A picture book tells children that no matter what your size, you are perfect the way you are.

In Winterberg’s (Fifteen Feet of Time, 2013) book, Tamia wants to figure out if she is small or not. In a simple question-and-answer format, she asks various creatures about her size. A big creature with yellow fur says: “Small? You? You are smaller than small! You are teeny-weeny!” Tamia puts her question to others, including a crescent moon, who answers, “Tiny? You? You are microscopic!" About halfway through the story, she begins to ask a different question: “Am I big?” Scaling down from the large creatures she approached at first, Tamia turns to a turtle, a flower, a ladybug and a small green worm. The worm, sticking out of an apple, tells Tamia, “You are gigantic!” In a magnificent realization, Tamia sees that size is relative. “I’ve got it!” Tamia says, “I’m everything, and if I’m everything, I’m also: just right!” On their own, children may find it a bit difficult to read Winterberg’s words, which often appear on top of illustrations and can be hard to discern, but adults should have no trouble reading the story to them. Wichmann’s detailed and dreamlike illustrations complement the simple messages of the book: Accept yourself as you are, no matter what your size, and you don’t have to compare yourself to others in order to be special. In addition to Tamia’s curly hair and her zany red hat, each page has details children may want to study. On one page, these include an image of a green turtle floating in a pond alongside a duck wearing water wings. Some of the pictures are so fanciful they can be a challenge to decipher, but that may add to their appeal for children who enjoy lingering over pages full of magical creatures and whimsical details.

A small girl learns to accept herself as she is in a story told in simple and engaging words and imaginative pictures.