Later, When I'm Big

July 1, 2023
A youngster imagines brave adventures that await in the future. Compelling artwork accompanies this simple story, translated from Dutch, about a child wondering at all that will be possible "Later, when I'm big." As the book opens, a light-skinned parent and child are seen heading to an indoor water park. The swimming pools slowly morph into the child's fantasies of the future--everything from sleeping in a haunted castle to "swinging on a trapeze, with a big drumroll and a shiny sequined suit." Scenes range from trips through fairy-tale forests to underwater adventures to the everyday, like jumping off a diving board. All of these reveries evoke the wonder of childhood, where a realistic challenge like "drinking cold soda, even if it tickles my throat," can exist on the same plane as flying to Saturn. The loose-lined, acrylic illustrations are stunning. One breathtaking, painterly scene shows the child galloping on horseback across a prairie, the gorgeous glow of desert and sunset a perfect blend. A bright spot of red--a scarf, bow, or ski suit--appears on the child on every page, a call back to the bathing suit in the opening, a way to identify them within their dream world. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Deftly captures a child's sense of wonder at the vastness of the world. (Picture book. 3-5)

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September 15, 2023
Preschool-Grade 2 A little girl's imagination transforms an indoor water park into a series of wild settings in which she stars in an action-packed future. At the story's start, the girl and her mother enter a water park that features gigantic plants, a big, curving yellow slide, a diving board, and a small pink-elephant slide whose trunk deposits kids into the kiddie pool. Before the little girl even gets to that slide, she's vowing that "later, when I'm big, I'll dare to do lots and lots of things." An instant scene change shows a jungle, complete with crocodile, and a gloomy-looking castle appearing in the water park. The whimsical illustrations, done in fluid acrylic paint, move the reader through increasingly fantastical landscapes that match the girl's promises to herself that she'll do things like swim to the bottom of the sea "without arm floaties," take a rocket ship to Saturn, explore an underground tunnel, and pat a polar bear. The girl's dauntless spirit shines through all her fantasies in this springboard for imaginative flights.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.