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Big Ben

by Sarah Ellis, Kim LaFave, illus.

Ben is tired of being the littlest in the family. His big sister, Robin, and big brother, Joe, can do everything. But Ben can’t swim, can’t see out the car window, can’t use chopsticks, and can’t eat spicy food. Worst of all, he doesn’t get report cards like Robin and Joe. He’s only in preschool. Then, miraculously, Robin and Joe cook up a way to make Ben feel important and loved: they make their own family report card for him. With straight A’s in all five subjects – “Feeding the Cat, Shoe Tying, Tooth Brushing, Whistling, and Making Us Laugh” – Ben can’t help but feel big.

This delightful book speaks to the needs and desires of the youngest child in every family. Importantly, the solution to Ben’s problem comes not from the grown-ups but from the older siblings who are the source of Ben’s feelings of inferiority. These smart children – minor miracles of sensitivity and resourcefulness – are Ben’s role models and therefore dominate the story.

LaFave’s bright illustrations, full of movement and comforting curves, reinforce Ellis’s rhythmic text perfectly. We see the fridge plastered with report cards from Ben’s wistful point of view. In the first half of the book, the two older children are pictured together on one side of the page, while Ben is alone on the other. Only when they give Ben his report card are all three drawn together, after which Ben is pictured happily attending to his “subjects” alone. At the end a parent appears just long enough to bestow the final affectionate compliment: “You are a big goof.”

 

Reviewer: Joanne Findon

Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside

DETAILS

Price: $18.95

Page Count: 32 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 1-55041-679-0

Released: Nov.

Issue Date: 2001-12

Categories: Children and YA Non-fiction, Picture Books

Age Range: ages 3-5