Think Big!

Written by Robert Munsch

Illustrated by Dave Whamond

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-8298-0

32 pp.

Ages 3-8

June 2021

 

For every child who feels hard done by with respect to the space they've been allotted in the family home, Think Big! gives them a quirky solution that thinks outside the box–definitely outside the walls–to acquire that little bit extra of everything.

From Think Big! by Robert Munsch, illus. by Dave Whamond

Jamaal has had it. He's the oldest child in the family–he has two younger brothers and a baby sister–and he has smallest room. He pleads his case to his parents but is told the universal parental response by both.

"Now, Jamaal," said his father, "that's the way it is." (pg. 6)

Jamaal stews on it all day. He fumes, he paces, he plays basketball with his dog, and he ponders. Finally at bedtime, he gets an idea that keeps him up implementing the changes he wants.

From Think Big! by Robert Munsch, illus. by Dave Whamond

With his father's tools, including a jack and a ladder, Jamaal moves walls and the ceiling. He installs a hot tub, a bunk bed, an enormous stereo system and a mega TV.

From Think Big! by Robert Munsch, illus. by Dave Whamond

But the next morning, the real chaos begins when his parents and baby sister awaken in a room the size of a closet, his brother hits his head on the ceiling when he sits up in bed and his other brother's feet are hanging out his window. While Jamaal sips on a juice box as he luxuriates in the hot tub with his dog, his family goes a little crazy. That is, until his dad recognizes the quality of Jamaal's work and asks him to do the same for their rooms.

Robert Munsch and Dave Whamond are becoming quite the duo of picture book collaboration, teaming up for zaniness of the ordinary-gone-extraordinary. With so many working and going to school from home in the past year plus, Jamaal's drive to improve his space may not be ordinary. What is extraordinary are the measures he takes and the enthusiasm with which he engineers his dream room. And Robert Munsch and Dave Whamond take us into that craziness of spirit and endeavour as Jamaal creates the room of his dreams.

From Think Big! by Robert Munsch, illus. by Dave Whamond

Robert Munsch may be all about the silliness, but it's all good fun. There's no arrogance or privilege. Jamaal is just frustrated and decides that he would find a solution for himself, albeit a wacky one. After all, when asked to do the same for his family, he has no problems creating a whimsical home, including a matching one for his dog, that will put the rest of the cookie-cutter homes in his neighbourhood to shame.

With the silliness inherent in Robert Munsch's stories, Dave Whamond gives Think Big! the illustrations that are just as fun and over-the-top as the premise of a kid making his space truly his own. Of course, we know Jamaal can't really move walls but children don't know about load-bearing walls or structural integrity. They know what they'd like in a room and Robert Munsch gives them that–space, TV, bunk beds, and stereo–but Dave Whamond makes it playful and quirky with his pen and ink and watercolour artwork. From the toys in Jamaal's room to the family's pajamas and the dog's antics, using the TV remote, soaking in the tub and dancing, Dave Whamond will leave readers smiling and wishing they could do the same. 

To all the children who wish they could have something more in their room, whether it be space or furniture or fun, Robert Munsch and Dave Whamond's story will encourage them to dream and draw and make–perhaps only with paper, popsicle sticks or blocks–but to always think big. Apparently, if you can think it, you can build it.