Book Review: Big Words for Little People, by Jamie Lee Curtis

Featuring an energetic group of children, who dance around the pages and learn new words, "Big Words for Little People" is the eighth "Book to Grow By" created by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell.

Narrating scenes from the life of seven multicultural siblings, "Big Words for Little People" features characters that everyone could recognize in a family. A pre-teen daughter who desperately wants her privacy; a son who loves magic tricks; twin toddlers who are picky eaters; a new baby girl; an adopted African American preschooler; a vibrant Asian girl. All these characters, anchored by an orange tabby, a little dog and a fat duck create a picture book that offers eccentric pleasure.

"Big Words for Little People" aims at pointing out that, although each kid is different and has a unique personality, kids are able to relate and their uniqueness is what makes life interesting.

Tackling impressively big words such as privacy, impossible, stupendous, superb, celebrate, consequence, irate, cooperate, appropriate, inappropriate, patience, disgusting, understand, inconsiderate, considerate, responsible, persevere and different, the book reveals how fun, but also empowering is to understand the big words. Curtis uses challenging words in a realistic way featuring examples of how they should be properly used. Spelled out in vibrant illustrations and presented in an uneven rhyme, each new word covers a wide range of words that relate to common knowledge, but also refer to other important issues such as privacy, the benefits of cooperation, the need to think about the consequences and the meaning of patience and persistence in life.

The most interesting part of "Big Words for Little People" is that it introduces children to complex terminology. All the words used in the book are words that children hear in school and wonder about their meaning. The book builds the children's vocabulary without limiting their vocabulary to certain, small words. In addition, Cornell's extraordinary, watercolor over pen and ink illustrations bring life to every single page and provide details about each word with fine humor.

In the last pages, apart from the big words, the book features also small words of major importance such as love, respect and family. Children learn the meaning of those important words in a bright and funny way and are motivated to have own discussions with their parents.

Although, at first sight, the words used in the book may seem too difficult for young children, vocabulary researchers suggest that kindergarten children can learn sophisticated words and actually use them when they talk. Curtis has done an excellent job by introducing all this new vocabulary in such a charming way, while focusing on the positive values derived from the experiences described in the book.

With "Big Words for Little People" Curtis, once again, demonstrates her remarkable sensibility for the silly and awkward moments of children that, in fact, determine kid behavior. To my view, "Big Words for Little People" is highly recommended and I know for sure that both children and parents will enjoy reading it more than once.

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/big-words-little-people
http://www.epinions.com/reviews/Book_Big_Words_for_Little_People_Jamie_Lee_Curtis