The Tiny Tale of Little Pea

August 1, 2017

PreS-Gr 1-Little Pea was born tiny. Teeny tiny. His bath was a cereal bowl, his bed a matchbox, and his transportation? A windup car (a nod to Stuart Little here). These clever adaptations worked well until school, where he was too small for just about everything. With no offers of accommodation, he spent a lot of time alone, drawing. "Poor Little Pea. What will become of him?" his teacher wondered. Readers don't have to wait: turn the page to see a grown-up Pea. He has built himself a cozy cardboard house and goes to work as a postage stamp illustrator. The message is "one can never be too small to be a GREAT artist!" The best part of the book is the tiny life hacks on display in Little Pea's world. Mourrain's digitally colored pencil drawings depict a ladybug on a leash and matchsticks as the legs of a bottle-top table. VERDICT A slight but triumphant story with charming, whimsical artwork. Best shared one-on-one to delight in the tiny details.-Lisa Lehmuller, Paul Cuffee Maritime Charter School, Providence

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2017
Little Pea--a light-skinned human being who never gets taller than half the length of a standard pencil--moves from infancy, through school, and into an ideal career for his talent and his size. "When he was born, Little Pea was tiny. Teeny-tiny." The dark text appears alone on the stark-white verso, across from which a cartoon baby happily floats on his back in a bowl decorated with images of green peas. Endearing artwork, reminiscent of early Maurice Sendak, later shows the baby sleeping in a matchbox. His toddler-esque proportions do not change as he ages, achieving such feats as rappelling off a tower of Legos and riding atop a grasshopper. He realizes the drawbacks of his tininess when he goes to school; among some very funny drawings is a sad one of Little Pea sitting alone under a tree at recess time. Little Pea's teacher worries about him, but the pages that follow never address loneliness. Instead, Little Pea's one passion--drawing--paves the way for the adult Little Pea to live in a tiny house, drive a windup car to his studio, and design postage stamps. Rather than a "tiny tale," text and art create a whimsical showcase around the idea of a person too small for reality, ending with a punch line that presupposes knowledge of postage stamps. Drolly creative but lacking frisson. (Picture book. 3-5)

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January 1, 2018
As a toddler, Little Pea is so tiny he bathes in a bowl and sleeps in a matchbox. The boy discovers at school that he is too small for the real world. But all ends well: grown-up ("but not much") Little Pea ultimately finds his niche as a stamp artist. The story's message is forced, but charming illustrations create an appealing world in small scale.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)