"When I was Little" Written by Jamie Lee Curtis

Another great book I have rediscovered in my classroom-reading library is the book "When I Was Little" written by Jamie Lee Curtis and illustrated by Laura Cornell. This book is about a four-year-olds memory of her childhood. The author compares her memories of when she was a baby to her present school age now. It is an easy read and doesn't have many pages but what is there is a cute book. I used to enjoy reading it to my first grade class and I look forward to reading it to my son when he gets a little older.

Story Details

When you first open the book, the illustrator does a great job of showing the difference of when the author was a baby to now her being a preschooler. On the left side of the page, the baby is seen flying in the air and on the right side of the page, the illustrator shows the baby now a girl.

Turning the page, on the left side it shows a baby and on the right side, it shows a girl. They are fighting over sharing animal crackers and it says that she no longer communicates with crying, she can use her words now. It is funny how the illustrator has drawn the girl with Band-Aids on her elbows while the animal crackers are flying threw the air.

On the next page, the girl is taking a bath with a baby. The mother explains to her that she is a girl. The illustrator does a great job detailing the picture with beauty treatment and luscious hair bottles next to the bath. She also shows a rubber duckie for the baby. On the right side is shows the little girl fixing her hair. She says that when she was a baby, she had silly hair. Now, she had hair that she likes to put in a ponytail, braids, or a pigtail. The illustrator again does a great job of showing the girl doing her hair. The girl has curlers in her hair and so does the dog. Even the baby is shown doing her hair using baby spike gel.

Turning the page, again, you see the baby sitting at the table and the girl explains that she was never allowed to eat Captain Crunch cereal or paint her toenails. The illustrator shows a table full of cereal, nail polish, and a big mess. The mother told the little girl that she used t make a big mess and spill things but now she is a big help.

The next page the little girl explains that as a baby she needed to ride in a baby car seat in the car. However, now that she is older, she doesn't a baby car seat anymore. She can ride in the car like a big girl and she likes to wave to the policeman directing the traffic. The illustrator shows a street full of people walking, riding bikes, walking their dogs, etc...

The next page the little girl can remember going to Mommy and me classes as a baby but now she is a big girl and goes to nursery school all by herself. She talks about her teachers, her cubby, naptime, and she tells secrets. I love the way the illustrator captures the memory and the present.

The little then explains how when she was a baby she sued to get time outs but didn't know what they were. Now when she gets timeouts, not only does she understand them, she doesn't like them. The illustrator shows the little girl sitting by herself extremely unhappy about it.

The little girl says that she used to make up silly baby words, but now she likes to make up songs. The illustrator shows the little girl singing in the supermarket. Next, she says that she likes to go swimming in the pool but doesn't need her floaties like when she was a baby. She says that she likes to go down the slide but how she used to be scared of it when she was a baby. Her grandma still helps her though at the park. She says that she used to eat goo as a baby but now she eats pizza, noodles, fruit and cheetos.

The little girl can remember when she only had two teeth. Now she has a full set of teeth and she likes to brush them. She remembers sleeping in her crib with all of her stuffed animals, but now she sleeps in a big girl bed without any stuffed animals. I had to laugh at this page because my son sleeps with his three stuffed friends every night. Her memory about her parents kissing her and putting her to bed is similar to now because they still kiss her goodnight. They read her a story first and play tickle torture.

At the end of the page the little girls says that as a baby she didn't know what a family was, what were dreams were, or who she was. However, as a big girl, now she knows what all three things are.

My Own Experience

After reading this book as a mom, I can relate to the authors way of writing. Many of her memories from a baby remind me of things my son does. I can see how he will enjoy this book when he is old enough to understand comparisons. This is a great book to read to your young students as well. They can write stories or draw pictures illustrating their own memories of when they were a baby to the present. This book can give them the opportunity to talk to their parents and stir up old memories about their childhood.

Recommendations

This book is recommended for ages 4 to 8. I definitely agree with this age range. My son is two and a half and he is still too young to understand the concepts but he can definitely look at the great illustrations this book has to offer. We can talk about what he sees in the pictures. Even though this book didn't win any awards, the author Jamie Lee Curtis, who by the way is a great actress, does a wonderful job in retelling her memories as a baby.