The Little Little Girl with the Big Big Voice

Candy-colored spreads, whimsically abstracted characters, and big, bold curves make this book as loud a spectacle as its hero. The protagonist's outsize head dwarfs her tiny body; fat braids stick out on either side of her head like Pippi Longstocking. "She came upon an elephant blowing bubbles in the water," Balouch (Baby Polar) writes, "but something scared the elephant away." It's easy to see what the "something" is: the girl, twirling a lariat around her head, has opened her pink mouth wide, and great rings of sound fill the spread in bands of pink, orange, and green. She scares a series of intimidating creatures--a snake, a crocodile--but when she meets a lion, "the lion looked at the little girl... and ROARED." The setback is momentary. "And the little girl looked at the lion... and laughed." Together the two roll on the ground giggling, broad circles of sound radiating from them both. Limited, spare, yet full of energy, it's a vision of a child who, far from being shamed for her booming voice, enjoys it in perfect freedom and happiness. Ages 2-5. (June)

PreS-Gr 1--A small, dark-skinned girl sets off one day to look for a friend, but when she opens her oversize mouth, she scares off an elephant, a snake, and a crocodile. Only a lion, whose voice presumably is as loud as hers, answers her call with a roar. Each short sentence is set on a brightly colored stylized spread. The large concentric circles in the drawings echo the girl's round, open mouth. The pictures are pleasant enough, but there is not enough plot or character development to engage readers. Skip this one.--Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT