Are You Small?
by Mo Willems; illus. by the author
Preschool, Primary    Union Square    32 pp.
6/24    9781454951452    $17.99

The child with the purple circle head and stick limbs from Are You Big? (rev. 1/24) again ponders size in this companion concept book. Asking the titular question, an unseen narrator offers different examples of things that are smaller than the child: “This book is small…a hamster is small…” Attuned to his audience’s point of view, Willems makes sure to note that small doesn’t mean ­unimportant or insignificant: “A baby tooth is small. (But it’s a BIG deal when it comes out.)” Uncluttered double-page spreads follow the same pattern: the verso features the previous page’s cartoony item walking off stage, while the recto introduces a relatively smaller object. For example, a smiley cookie crumb (smaller than the baby tooth) heads off the left-hand page, now looking big compared to the grain of sand waving on the right. Zooming in on the microscopic level, the narrator introduces (and doesn’t really define) less-familiar terms, including a cell, a water molecule (small, “but they are essential for life on this planet”), an electron, and a quark. Back to the original question, “Are YOU small?” If young listeners are feeling a bit untethered at the idea of the infinitesimal, the narrator, who we now see is a grownup, reassures the child: “You are to ME! (at least, for now).” An amusing list of numerical size comparisons is appended. This small book does indeed have “BIG ideas in it.”

From the "September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.