Review - Little Juniper Makes It BIG

Little Juniper Makes It BIG
by Aidan Cassie
Date: 2019
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: library

Aidan Cassie, the creator of Sterling, Best Dog Ever, employs her pitch-perfect humor and heartwarming illustrations here again to help little ones love themselves at any size in Little Juniper Makes It BIG.

What Juniper lacks in size, she makes up for in heart. And her heart is dead-set on growing up and getting taller. She's tired of having to reach for the cookie jar or use a stepping stool for the toilet. Everything in Juniper's world seems to be made for adults. Ugh!

Juniper is industrious, however, and builds several silly contraptions to help reach her goals. But it isn't until she makes a fun new friend at school, Clove, who is even smaller than Juniper, that she is able to see her world from a new perspective--and appreciate all sizes, big or small.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I absolutely loved Sterling, Best Dog Ever. It's one of my top picture-book reads of 2019. So I went into Little Juniper Makes It BIG with some trepidation, because I wasn't sure if this second book by Cassie would be anywhere near as good. Could it be? To my great relief, the answer is a resounding, "YES!"

Little Juniper Makes It BIG is about an anthropomorphized raccoon child who finds that everything in her world is too big. She falls in the toilet. She can't reach the sink. She can't loot the cookie jar. Her mother assures her that she will grow, but Juniper is impatient. It isn't until she becomes friends with tiny Clove, a squirrel, that she gets a bit of perspective and realizes that being small can have its advantages.

The story is cute enough, but the illustrations just take it over the top. They're adorable, with just the right amount of humour. And I loved seeing the Hudson's Bay point blanket on Juniper's bed! (It's a nice little touch from this Canadian author.)

I really loved this book, and I can't wait to see what Cassie brings us next!

Quotable moment:

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 5/5
Illustrations: 5/5
Originality: 5/5

Enjoyment: 5/5

Overall: 4.83 out of 5