Common Sense Media Review
By Patricia Tauzer
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
A sweet book to celebrate a new son and his dad.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 3+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
In LITTLE BOY, a father thinks about the everyday moments and adventures in his little boy's life that make his world special, and considers how much the future depends on those simple things.
Is It Any Good?
Author Alison McGhee joyfully celebrates a little boy and his dad in this gentle, graceful story. In a format similar to her last book, the best-seller, Someday, she follows the child through his day as he runs exuberantly through life in his shorts and striped T-shirt, sometimes donning a red Superman cap, at other times a space helmet made of an upside-down bowl. A yellow cup and a big cardboard box keep resurfacing as the games change in this world that is full of imagination and simple things.
The father also resurfaces now and then in Little Boy, smiling as he measures the boy or pulls the cookies out of the oven that he and his son have baked. The message is subtle, but heartwarming and solid, and it's repeated in a line that threads throughout the book. So much in life depends on the everyday moments, on the things that seem small and quiet and playful. Kids need time to become themselves, and parents need time to enjoy it all. And everyone could use a big cardboard box!
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about all the things the little boy loves -- his yellow cup, animal crackers, and his starship pajamas. What favorite things do you have?
Th little boy enjoys his big cardboard box. Have you ever played with a big box? What did you pretend it was?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Peter H. Reynolds
- Genre : Picture Book
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Atheneum
- Publication date : April 15, 2008
- Number of pages : 40
- Last updated : October 28, 2022
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