Items related to I Want to Be (Picture Puffins)
After some thought a young girl describes in poetic terms the kind of person she wants to be
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From Booklist:
Ages 5-9. This begins with a young girl who is asked by several people what she wants to be. She doesn't have a ready response, but once she has time to think, she comes up with some extraordinary answers. "I want to be big but not so big that a mountain or a mosque or a synagogue seems small. . . . I want to be quiet but not so quiet that nobody can hear me. I also want to be sound, a whole orchestra with two bassoons and an army of cellos." And on a more whimsical note: "I want to be in motion but I want the ants in my pants to sometimes take a vacation." Most of all, "I want to be all the people I know, then I want to know more people so I can be them all. . . . I want to be life doing, doing everything. That's all." The ambitious text at times goes over the top and becomes pretentious in its imagery, but there is much here with which children can identify. All the pulling and pushing of life comes out in Moss' lilting writing, feelings that kids know all too well. Pinkney's lovely watercolor illustrations, featuring the African American narrator with her hair in cornrows, exude a life-affirming vitality and the sense that anything is possible. Use this as a starting point for discussion to get kids talking about what they would like to be. Ilene Cooper
From Kirkus Reviews:
The untrammeled exuberance of a free-spirited youngster, eager to explore everything, sings through a poetic story. When neighbors ask a young African-American what she'd like to be and she lacks a ready answer, she lets her imagination soar while pondering attributes she might claim (``big,'' ``strong,'' ``old,'' ``fast,'' ``wise,'' ``beautiful,'' ``green,'' ``weightless'') and concluding: ``I want to be life doing, doing everything.'' The unnamed narrator, in sneakers, tie-dyed shirt and cutoff overalls, is Pinkney's latest handsome young heroine (cf. Mirandy and Brother Wind, 1988; The Talking Eggs, 1989). His watercolors burgeon with flowers, butterflies, rainbows, and busy, happy people (Brother Wind makes a cameo appearance). In Moss's headlong style, image piles on image; but Pinkney's artistic ingenuity matches even her most over-the-top similes: ``a train moving in the sun like a metal peacock's glowing feather on tracks that are like stilts a thousand miles long laid down like a ladder up a flat mountain (wow!)....'' Exhilarating, verbally and visually: the very essence of youthful energy and summertime freedom. (Picture book. 5-10) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherDemco Media
- Publication date1998
- ISBN 10 0606135111
- ISBN 13 9780606135115
- BindingPaperback
- IllustratorPinkney Jerry
- Rating
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