You can see several of Emma's books on the bottom shelf alongside other favourites. If you are a picture book lover, or at least ha...

The World Is Big And I am Small

Saturday, June 25, 2016 BookBairn 12 Comments

You can see several of Emma's books on
the bottom shelf alongside other favourites.
If you are a picture book lover, or at least have an avid little reader of picture books in your house, there is a good chance that you will have already seen some of Emma Dodd's illustrations. In fact, if you have read some of previous posts we have already reviewed one of her books (here) and even after this post is written I have another series of books (though quite different) that I only recently realised were also illustrated by this versatile artist.

There are some books which simply touch your heart when you read them and that's why I wanted to share these books with you. When BookBairn was six months old and she first moved into her own bedroom, we created a 'favourites shelf' on which I place some of the books we are reading regularly, or recently borrowed from the library, or have just acquired. And the first book she chose from it, and subsequently chose over and over again was 'Me' (also titled 'I am Small') by Emma Dodd. It was also the first book that she properly engaged with by hunting out the little penguin on every page. I have now read this book so many times that I could easily recite it for you now without peeking at it's pages. "The world is big and I am small", it begins. In fact, you can see from the video that even BookBairn can recite the ending!

A video posted by BookBairn (@bookbairn) on


This is a beautiful story that will pull on the heart strings of any reader, even now, if it's been one of those days, my eyes fill with tears as we read this story. It is the story told by a baby penguin of all the things in this world that challenge it: things that are big and long and deep and strong and high and far and steep. And the penguin is small. But there is one thing bigger than all these things, the parent penguin's love. Magical. To make this fabulous story even more magical, the pages of the paperback* are embellished with foil, making the pages truly beautiful.

The other wonderful thing about these books is that there is a whole series of them (see them all here)! We have borrowed most from our library and loved all of them. The illustrations are sweet with the parent and child characters at the centre of each page spread. The foil is simply used to highlight and glimmer.



The series has recently moved to a different publisher (here) but the beauty of these little books continues. Similar formatting, with Emma's wonderful illustrations alongside her magic-touch with rhyming couplets that are truly charming, these books capture that indescribable relationship between a parent and their child. We have only managed to read two of the new series and the only difference that I have spotted is that the use of foil has been reduced to every other page spread. I think this is a shame, but the magic of these books still shines through.

Please, I implore you, go out and look for these books. Beg, borrow or ... I can't condone stealing. I draw the line there. If you know someone with a new baby, they should have these books: gift them. We have given them twice now as gifts. They are truly lovely. Beautiful. Magical.

They are picture book perfection. 
I cannot recommend them higher than that.

Love Mummy and BookBairn x

*though not the board books, unfortunately.

We have not been sent any of these books, we own two of the board books and we borrowed the others from our local library service and for those of you living locally who would like to read them, we have since returned them. Reluctantly. x

Read With Me

12 comments:

  1. I can associate myself with the parent penguin. "Love conquers all". Great blog, MummyBookBairn. Well done.

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    1. Thanks Papa! Mummy bought another new one to share with BookBairn - whoops!

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  2. Oh it looks fantastic! This little girl is very lucky with her book shelf! I'll have to introduce you some adapted french books. xx cathy

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    1. Thanks Cathy! I really want to add some foreign languages to our collection but I want them to be 'authentic' rather than just translations of English books. x

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  3. I adore her illustrations! Love the book shelf, so appealing :) Thanks so much for sharing with #ReadWithMe

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    1. Thank you! Books are a work of art and it's nice to have a space to let them shine! x

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  4. I love your bookshelf, I'd like one like that for my daughter :)

    We're fans of Emma Dodd here too, she portrays family relationships on the most beautiful but simple to understand way.

    #readwithme

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    1. These are just super cheap Ikea shelves - but it's mostly about having a space! Emma Dodd is a genius. She writes the books I wish I could write.

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  5. They do sound like wonderful books to read - I can imagine my son loving them when he was younger.

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    1. They are lovely Erica! Thanks for visiting the blog x

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  6. I can't believe we have got this far without reading these books, they are going straight to the top of the list when we next go to the shop or library! Whatcote beautiful review, I'm sure that BookBairn will always cherish this book :)
    #readwithme

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    1. That is criminal! You have to get some from the library. I actually picked up a new one called 'Together' in Asda for just £4 yesterday - felt like I was robbing them of a gem at that price!

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