Little Boy

by Alison McGhee

Book Overview

The simple playthings, the everyday moments, picking up that hundredth rock -- all of these are brimming with possibility...if you slow down and let the future begin with the small moments of today. Because everything depends on letting a little boy...be a little boy.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 141695872X
• ISBN13: 9781416958727
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.3" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Our little boy loves it!!

Our little boy - 17 months old - loves the lilting prose and the lovely pictures of this book. He picks it out of his bookcase full of books nearly every night and begs for it to be read to him. The book follows one day of a little boy and uses familiar words - cup, dog, bug, truck, crackers - that he understands and responds to by pointing at the object in the illustration. And, of course, it lauds the best toy of all, the "big cardboard box"! Our little boy now repeats the word "box" each time the book mentions this amazing object. I disagree with the reviewer who said it was difficult to read . . . just think William Carlos Williams and you will realize that this is a wonderful poem. "Little boy, so much depends on, your yellow cup, a seranade to wake you up, the sun that slants across the rug, the wings on that astonishing bug, AND your big cardboard box." WONDERFUL!!

charming

This is a charming companion to SOMEDAY; although less tender and wistful. Hey, it's for the guys, after all.

Captured the joy of boys

Charming book that the mothers and fathers of boys should read and share with their growing sons.

Baby gift

I purchased this title on a whim when a very dear friend of mine and his wife had their first child, a little boy. It just seemed right. I wasn't disappointed. It's a delightful story about a "little boy" and what's important to him. Of all his toys--the big cardboard box--and what parent doesn't understand that?

A touching treasure

A gentle reminder to let children have unstructured time to play, this storybook is about a dad reflecting on his son the way the authors' Someday is about a mom and her daughter. Both can bring tears to your eyes. Using short rhymes and expressive illustrations, the story follows one small boy through his day. He wakes up to the sounds of a big yellow dog and Dad singing in the shower. He spends his day climbing trees, splashing in puddles, dumping sand, rolling trucks, being measured to see how tall he is, baking cookies with Dad, kicking balls, pretending to be a pirate, saying goodbye to visiting grandparents and reading to his dog. Like all little kids, the boy plays with his same, favorite toys throughout the day. A yellow robot splashes in a puddle, gets buried in a sandbox and measured for its height, and walks into a cardboard box town. The boy plays with the cardboard box all day too, finally falling asleep in it at night, curled up with his dog. The point of the book is surprisingly deep: that who the boy will become as a man depends on all the seemingly insignificant, everyday activities he does as a child. "Little boy, you remind me how, so much depends on days made of now."