Little Juniper Makes It Big

Written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie
Farrar Straus Giroux
978-0-374-31045-5
40 pp.
Ages 4-8
July 2019

Juniper is a little raccoon and she's tired of being so little. She sees the disadvantages of being small in a world made by adults for adults. Everything seems to be too high for her to reach, whether it be the sink, the door knob or an elusive jar of cookies. Even when she puts her engineering skills to work, with springboards and stilts, hoppers and heighteners, and cranes and catapults and balloons, "Juniper's efforts fell short." 

From Little Juniper Makes It Big by Aidan Cassie

At school, Juniper realizes that she is actually of average size and even far larger than new student Clove whose size does not hinder her efforts at all. When Clove invites Juniper to her home, the raccoon anticipates lessons in "un-smallness" but she is pleasantly surprised to learn that, at "Clove's home, Juniper was adult-size."

From Little Juniper Makes It Big by Aidan Cassie

Still, it's that grass-is-always-greener scenario because Juniper soon recognizes that she can't enjoy fun activities like swinging, playing dress-up, bouncing on the bed and even playing hide-and-seek when she's far larger than Clove. Nevertheless, Juniper's sleepover at Clove's helps her recognize how her own home was "very, nearly, almost perfect!"

From Little Juniper Makes It Big by Aidan Cassie

Children are always in such a hurry to get bigger, older, taller and have more responsibilities, and the storytelling in Little Juniper Makes It Big suggests, without admonishing, that it's perfectly normal to see another world as more desirable. However, Juniper finally gets the message with the help of the even smaller Clove, whose optimism and determination abound, that her world is perfect for her right now.

Aidan Cassie, whose first picture book, Sterling, Best Dog Ever (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018) won the 2019 Joan Betty Stuchner–Oy Vey!–Funniest Children's Book Award in the picture book/board book category, again blends the humour of childhood innocence and the determination to be more, or at least our very best. Juniper sees her world as limiting because of her size but, with a change in perspective, courtesy of a tiny squirrel with a voluminous personality and oodles of spirit, Juniper is able to appreciate her home and life in new ways. That's a very positive message, heightened with the humour and charm of Aidan Cassie's illustrations. I was won over by her artwork in Sterling, Best Dog Ever and Little Juniper Makes It Big introduces us to a new gang of cartoon animals in engrossing settings. (Check out the cottage-like setting of the bathroom below.) Her characters have joy and frustration amidst the normalcy of family, home, and school and even little humans will be able to identify with them.  By creating empathy for cute animals who are experiencing what our own children may also be encountering, Aidan Cassie has found a way to teach, delight, reassure and entertain our youngest who just want to make it big too.

From Little Juniper Makes It Big by Aidan Cassie

I Am Small

Written and illustrated by Qin Leng

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0115-5

40 pp.

Ages 3-7

October 2018 

Her name is Mimi but "I might as well be called Mini" because she is small. Of course it's all relative, as Mimi soon discovers, but still she knows that she is smaller than the rest of her family, even the dog, and her classmates and knows what a disadvantage she is at in the classroom and at the bakery, the butcher shop, the fish market and on the street.

When will I grow big enough to take up as much space in the world as everyone else?

From I Am Small by Qin Leng

But, it's all about perspective. Her friends and family recognize the advantages of being small: getting to sit in the front row of the class photo; staying well hidden during a game of hide-and-seek; and preferential placement when queuing up in the cafeteria.

From I Am Small by Qin Leng

But little Mimi only feels the frustration. That is, until she starts to see from a different point of view: snuggling inside her parents' bed, pretending the bathtub is her pool, and riding the dog as a knight's steed.  Then, when Mimi is introduced to her new baby brother, she realizes that he is "super small" now that she's a big sister.

From I Am Small by Qin Leng

Though most families wouldn't trade those moments when children are very small for anything, it is the way of the world for children and young people to want to be bigger and more grown up.  It's the grass-is-always-greener syndrome, which sadly even adults tend to adopt. Whether author/illustrator Qin Leng was, as a child, smaller than her peers or now that she's a mother she is anticipating the lament of most children who always feel small and insignificant, I don't know. But I do know that Qin Leng can portray that angst sweetly in words and illustration. With the airiness typical of her artwork, Qin Leng brings the reader down to Mimi's perspective, even when we're seeing it from above.

Maybe everyone around her thinks her smallness is not a big deal but, to Mimi, it definitely is. Minimizing her feelings would not be appropriate so Qin Leng finds the only way to show Mimi that she is more than just small of stature. She is big in heart and importance, especially to a new baby brother who will need to rely on his big sister to help him find his own place in the world.

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A French-language edition Je suis petite (Comme des Géants, 2018) is also available.