Oh, aren’t you a big girl, eating your dinner! Well look how big you have gotten. Now, eat up and get big and strong. When you’re little these are what the adults tell you. And they push being a “big kid” and we as kids want to be like the “big kids.” Until the day we are told there is such a thing as “too big” and that means “wrong.”
And that is what our young girl is this story deals with. Vashti Harrison talks about how the girl in Big finally gets to the point when she is “too big.” Or at least for those around her. We see how she must be the mountain in her dance recital because the flower costume does not fit. She is a “whale, cow, moose” because she gets stuck in the swings (based on a real incident of the author). The girl is a lot of good things, she is smart, clever, imaginative, but all people see is Big.
And when she cries, now she is “too big to cry.” We the adult reader know that she will figure out how to take the words and give them back to those who have hurt her with them, and in one of the most relatable scenes that I think I’ve seen in any book (novel or like Big picture book), people “don’t get it.” It was a joke. Oh, you’re too sensitive (my personal “favorite” excuse). They didn’t mean to hurt you (haha).
I do not think I have related to a book this strongly in a while. I am a Big girl who is several decades into double digits, but still see the looks/thoughts/actions of being “too big.” And it hurts. While our main character is of color, she is everyone who has been mooed at or bullied. Thankfully our young girl can see that she is all the good things that she has always been, and yes, it is all wrapped up in one wonderful big package.
Great for all ages, but know your reader as it could be a bit of a sensitive topic.