Bigger! Bigger!

by Leslie Patricelli

The star of Faster! Faster! and Higher! Higher! dons a construction hat for another soaring (and slightly interrupted) exercise in imagination.

A box of blocks. A budding builder. Should she build a doghouse? A bridge? A skyscraper? Yes, all of these and more! Bigger, bigger! BIGGEST! But then . . . Boom! Boom! What's that? Uh-oh . . . After one little girl's architectural masterpieces grow exponentially, the arrival of an assistant presents a bit of a challenge in this ode to creativity masterfully constructed by Leslie Patricelli.

Genres: Picture Books, Construction, Storytime, Childrens, Stem, Architecture

32 pages, Hardcover

Published May 8, 2018

About the author

Leslie Patricelli is the American writer and illustrator of the best selling line of toddler books, starring her inimitable Baby character, including Potty, Toot, Yummy Yucky, Big Little, and Hair. She has more than 30 books for children, including her preschool books, Higher! Higher! (a Boston Globe Book Honor Award winner), Be Quiet, Mike!, Faster! Faster! and The Patterson Puppies and the Midnight Monster Party; as well as a middle-grade novel, The Rizzlerunk Club: Best Buds Under Frogs, published in 2018. Leslie Patricelli grew up in Issaquah, Washington close to Pine Lake. Leslie Patricelli majored in Communications at the University of Washington and took classes at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle. Leslie Patricelli created and animated Rover the Dog for Windows XP help installed on more than 60 million computers worldwide.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's not much to this cute tale other than size comparisons, though it does have a smashing ending.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Age: Toddler
Concept skill: Sizes
Family: Older sister, younger baby
STEM: Engineering
Toys: Blocks

A dedicated girl with a towering imagination takes her blocks to build a dog house then a house, then an apartment complex, and so on until she builds a city. The look of shock on the girl's face as she hears baby approaching is a perfect moment to pause and build suspense for the listener. A great addition to this family series.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A child begins building with blocks. Her imagination takes her further until she has "built" an entire city complete with sky scrapers. Suddenly it all comes crashing down. The infant sibling has knocked it all down. Together they build it back up.

Good for toddler storytime.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love Leslie Patricelli at our house. When my second was born, my building-obsessed oldest really benefitted from this book, as the baby was always knocking over his creations. The book is simplistic, but has a good social emotional message about sibling play.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to some preschoolers. All the groups I read it to paid pretty good attention.

[Vernon Area Public Library KIDS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concept skill: Sizes
Family: Older sister, younger baby
STEM: Engineering
Toys: Blocks

A dedicated girl with a towering imagination takes her blocks to build a dog house, then a house, then an apartment complex, and so on until she builds an entire city. The look of shock on the girl's face as she hears baby approaching is a perfect moment to pause and build suspense for the listener. A great addition to this family series by Patricelli (and my toddler daughter can't get enough of the bold illustrations and simple text).

Reviewed by: Miss Kelsey, Youth and School Services, Vernon Area Public Library

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

With only one or two simple words on each page and big, colorful illustrations to accompany them, this book would be great for any children too small to sit through a wordier book. I particularly appreciated that the main character was a girl doing all the construction because the stereotype is for boys to build and be interested in construction even though some girls are too! As a babysitter of two boys under the age of three I understand well the situation in which one kid spends a lot of time building only to have the other knock it over, so I appreciated that in the end the two siblings in this book switch from the goal of “bigger” to “stronger” and work together to build.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bigger! Bigger! by Leslie Patricelli. PICTURE BOOK Candlewick Press, 2018. $16.
9780763679309

BUYING ADVISORY: Pre-K- OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

A girl takes her building blocks and imagination to new heights. How big can she go? Is there a limit to how big she can go? Maybe...

As with Leslie Patricelli’s other picture books, the illustrations are colorful and essential to the two or fewer words on the page. A story to enjoy with a young budding builder.

Diann
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...

[Kmgreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really fun to read to a toddler as a wordless book. It only has 6 words but the real fun in reading it is narrating what's happening as her creations get bigger and bigger. Leslie Patricelli's illustrations are simple but they convey an interesting scene with just a few lines and colors.

I love how this book draws you in as the girl is drawn into her own imagination. As her creations get larger, the pictures are more detailed. The surprise conclusion made the story even more fun.

[Chloe Price]

Starts off with a little girl building a small tower. Then with each page the thing she is building gets bigger. She begins with a dog house, then a house, then an apartment complex, and so on until she eventually builds an entire city. The final page goes back to the little girl building with her blocks. The story is her representing her imagination and showing the comparison of different sizes.

The book uses simple bold illustrations with minimal text to tell the story.

[Ruth Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little girl with pigtails and a yellow construction hat builds with her blocks. Big. Bigger! And Bigger! Bigger! To Biggest! Her imagination is at play! But then, the unexpected happens. But she is not defeated, only stronger!

[Cheriee Weichel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the idea of this book more than how it works with my seventeen month granddaughter. She loved the front cover but couldn't make the connection to the imaginary building. Unfortunately our library copy is not a board book like the other Leslie Patricelli books we have come to love.

[Eliot Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Few words, but lots of fun illustrations, a little girl uses her imagination and blocks to construct all kinds of buildings, until her baby brother pops up and knocks everything down. Instead of getting mad at her brother, she decides to invite him to play along with her.

[MeganRuth - Alohamora Open a Book · Rating 2 out of 5]

We'll darn. I was hoping for a great book I could use in a STEM like storytime for comparing objects. It doesn't fit the storytime bill, but for a baby or young toddler it's a good, short, and simple book to read it to them.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because it says every kind of building that are bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger bigger. And at the end [spoiler alert], the baby crushes down all the buildings.

[Le Maistre Chat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picture book with very few different words about a girl imagining her building blocks are an entire city with herself, her dog and cat as construction workers. Then the baby shows up.
Simplistic, but very relatable to my older daughter, who loves building toys and has a dog and new baby.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic Patricelli. I liked the BOOM twist.

[Benjamin Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

simple premise, executed well.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little book with very few words - but it gets the point across. I also liked the Godzilla Baby bit, and especially the ending!

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bright illustrations that tell a clear story using only a few words.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recognized that baby at the end. Good progression and use of imagination.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book with few words that inspires imagination and teamwork.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple book about using building blocks and making something big, bigger.

Perfect for toddlers and young ones learning to read.

Great illustrations.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love the pictures in every book she writes. Just the cutest stories

[Adriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son loves it, I think it's great for talking about imagination vs. reality, siblings, and having kids fill in the dialogue. The images are super cute and so fun!!

[Miss Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A young girl dreams of building and keeps building bigger and bigger designs. Preschool and up for importance on pictures. very simple words

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very simple, clear story with nice bright illustrations. A good preschool storytime read for themes on building, imagination, engineering, etc.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid hit for toddlers.

[Ann Haefele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little girl uses her imagination while building blocks. Colorful illustrations and very few words (most of them are “Bigger! bigger!”) are used as her imagination gets bigger and bigger.

[kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

love this author but it's not one of her best