School Days: Think Big by Liz Garton Scanlon

BIG VOICE. ON PITCH.
PIN. TRIM. THREAD, STITCH.

A group of preschoolers with amazing skills and imagination throw themselves into the task of putting on a show.

There are instruments--a tall bass viol:

BOW, STROKE

and, of course, dance and dancers:

SPIN, TWIRL.
TOE, HEEL

.
The young performers throw themselves into rehearsal, inspired by a lively classroom cat, while the stage crew paints posters and sets, cooks up sustenance for the troop, knits costumes, and even throws clay pots for the set. It's a whirlwind of colorful activity, with the purpose revealed on the final pages, a drama for their enthusiastic parents entitled WHEN WE GROW UP.

Liz Garton Scanlon, author of the Caldecott-winning All the World has another spare-texted but lyrical story that is both fantastical and yet true to the exuberance of early childhood in her just published Think Big (Bloomsbury, 2012). The young, brave-of-heart thespians, who do experience a bit of stage fright just before the show goes on, are bursing with energy in Vanessa Newton's spritely illustrations where everyone is always in motion. Fun for reading aloud or kicking off a class performance when youngsters must take a deep breath and learn to think big.