Book Review- Big by Vashti Harrison
By Vashti Harrison
This is the story of a young girl, little in real life and little at heart. As a baby, her being big is celebrated and appreciated. As she grows older, she is labeled big and also other hurtful things by kids and even some adults.
Things which she enjoys doing like ballet are no longer enjoyable because she is made to feel humiliated, invisible and judged. The criticism and judgment by others leads to her feeling trapped with no way out. She feels boxed with no possibility of redeeming herself.
A breakthrough occurs when she realizes that she doesn’t want to hold on to some of the labels which hurt her. She hands them back to the people who hurt her with the simple words- “These are yours. They hurt me”.
Illustrated in a soft pink palette which progressively turns gray as the protagonist sinks deeper into hurt. The redemption and her breakthrough moment of literally pushing the boundaries and learning to hold space for herself is all wonderfully executed.
The illustrations literally transported us and we felt the hurt and the despair of the child. The sparse text, the use of space and the wonderful double page spread of the breakthrough was all stunning.
We loved this book and have been reading this on repeat. What is particularly wonderful is that there is an actionable method of handling the situation- you can either choose to hold on or choose to let go and hold space for yourself.
Ideal for kids aged 4+ yrs
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