The Little Little Girl with the Big Big Voice

by Kristen Balouch, Kristen Balouch (Illustrator)

Overview

In this vibrantly illustrated picture book, one loud little girl is on the hunt for a friend. She searches the jungle high and low, but her BIG voice scares all the animals away! One by one, an elephant, a snake, and a croc quickly retreat from the girl’s booming vocals, until at last she finds the perfect playmate—whose “roar” is even louder than her own!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442435148
Publisher:	Little Simon
Publication date:	06/14/2011
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Kristen Balouch lives in a quiet little house on a quiet little street in not-so-quiet Brooklyn, New York. She lives there with her quiet little son and little, little daughter who has a big, big voice. They are mostly happy.

You might see Kristen at a cafe or on the subway or riding her bike around New York. She might be sketching or daydreaming or writing something down. If you happen to see her...be very quiet ot you might frighten her away...shhh...

Editorial Reviews

Candy-colored spreads, whimsically abstracted characters, and big, bold curves make this book as loud a spectacle as its hero. The protagonist's outsize head dwarfs her tiny body; fat braids stick out on either side of her head like Pippi Longstocking. "She came upon an elephant blowing bubbles in the water," Balouch (Baby Polar) writes, "but something scared the elephant away." It's easy to see what the "something" is: the girl, twirling a lariat around her head, has opened her pink mouth wide, and great rings of sound fill the spread in bands of pink, orange, and green. She scares a series of intimidating creatures—a snake, a crocodile—but when she meets a lion, "the lion looked at the little girl... and ROARED." The setback is momentary. "And the little girl looked at the lion... and laughed." Together the two roll on the ground giggling, broad circles of sound radiating from them both. Limited, spare, yet full of energy, it's a vision of a child who, far from being shamed for her booming voice, enjoys it in perfect freedom and happiness. Ages 2–5. (June)

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 1—A small, dark-skinned girl sets off one day to look for a friend, but when she opens her oversize mouth, she scares off an elephant, a snake, and a crocodile. Only a lion, whose voice presumably is as loud as hers, answers her call with a roar. Each short sentence is set on a brightly colored stylized spread. The large concentric circles in the drawings echo the girl's round, open mouth. The pictures are pleasant enough, but there is not enough plot or character development to engage readers. Skip this one.—Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT

School Library Journal

Anyone who's spent time around young children will immediately recognize this little girl, an irrepressible kid who wants only to find a playmate who can keep up with her.

Exuberant, stylized illustrations in bright pink, peach, coral, lime, orange and lemon effectively portray this girl and her energy. Bands of color radiate outward from her relatively small image, visually expressing her spirit (and "big, big voice"). The brief, simple text begins as if it were a folktale—"There was a little, little girl"—and proceeds deliberately, almost at a stately pace: She visits animal after animal, scaring off each one in turn. It isn't until a lion roars back at her that she realizes she has met her match. Other kids might cry or be afraid, but she just laughs, overjoyed. Folkloric elements in the art complement the text; patterns repeat in the girl's hair, on the animals' hides and in the backgrounds. However, the overall look is modern, with bold use of color and shape making the images pop. While ethnicity isn't directly addressed here, this little girl's brown face and glossy black hair make her an accessible everygirl for a contemporary, diverse population.

Young readers can practically hear this little, little girl's big, big voice from where they're sitting, and most preschoolers will know exactly how she feels. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews