The Little Guys by Vera Brosgol Published by Roaring Brook Press on April 2, 2019
ISBN: 1626724423
Pages: 40
Goodreads
Cautionary tale? Fable? Brosgol’s picture book definitely has a message, but it might depend on the age of your audience as to what part of the message they hear. The Little Guys are the smallest creatures in the forest, but there are so many of them that together they are strong. They are so strong, in fact, that when they band together, they take anything they want. And they want everything. They take so much that soon none of the other animals have anything. So while the book starts out feeling like a teamwork book for younger readers/listeners with a message of “no matter how small you are, you can get the job done if you work together,” which is true in the story, it ends up really being the story for older readers about how a large group of any people *can* take what they want, but what is the point if no one else has anything? The book shows how community works. The Little Guys are powerful, but they should use their power for good, to help. The artwork is fantastic – you can almost feel the Little Guys, a group of acorn dwarfs or dwarf acorns?, marching and chanting across the cover (“oh-wee-oh, oh—o” or perhaps “hi, ho, hi, ho, it’s off to work we go”) and the forest scenes are comical and well-drawn. Somehow, Brosgol imbues the Little Guys with emotions though they wear no expressions. As a read-aloud, it is a bit tough as the Little Guys get more and more forceful in their quest to take what they need (or is it want?) even resorting to violence against the Bigger Guys. Children, who don’t always attach as much depth of meaning or layers of politicized feelings, will appreciate the idea that being little is okay, and working together to get something you want is usually easier than working alone but, in the end, recognizing the need to share and practicing kindness so that everyone has enough is the best approach to a happy community and, perhaps, world.
Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth