NOT LITTLE

A small girl makes a big difference.

“I may be small, but I’m not little,” Dot informs readers, chafing at others’ attitudes toward her. She presents as a child of color with light-brown skin and dark hair, which Yum cleverly styles in a bun on top of her head to add some height in the energetic colored-pencil art. She is the smallest person in her interracial family and the smallest person in her class—until Sam arrives. “He might even be smaller than I am,” thinks Dot when the teacher introduces him to the class. He appears to be of Asian descent, and he seems nervous at his new school. Sadly, it turns out his anxiety is well founded when “the mean boy,” a much-taller White boy, picks on him in the cafeteria. Dot intercedes, using her words to interrupt the bullying and then to defend herself when the mean boy says, “What are you going to do about it, little girl?” Yum is at her expressive best when Dot shifts from an anxiety-ridden state depicted with a bullseye of concentric circles surrounding her to a spread devoid of background as Dot bellows from across the gutter at the boy, “I’M NOT LITTLE!” Sam offers thanks and admiration, not to mention his friendship, to bring the story to a satisfying close.

Sure to be a big hit.