One of the loveliest responses to the books so far? Miniature pavlovas perfect for a Dot-sized repast at the new blog A Dainty Feast.
A nice notice from the beautiful Smallish Magazine.
Beautiful write up on When I Was Small at the wonderful LEITMOTIF.
The little boy’s mother begins to tell him the most beautiful fictions of her youth – exaggerations of the word “small” that allow her to imaginatively enter another world. The book is not about a literal relationship between our own childhoods and our children – it is about communicating on their level. Imagining, dreaming, playing, and thinking like they do.
I really love the way this little girl’s identity unfolds within these pages. Throughout the book, her gestures and presence exude warmth, an ease with nature and solitude, and a strong sense of self. In a world of children’s literature that rarely shows girls in this light, this story reveals the inner life of a unique and magical creature – the precious & precocious child at heart.
When You Were Small featured on the very lovely Illustrated Forest.
We’ve all been there, a small child asks us the simplest of questions: what was I like when I was small? And searching through the infinity of answers, or having exhausted them all, we hit upon something so wondrous that the child is immediately mesmerised in disbelief. Children love to hear stories about themselves and the more fantastical the better. When You Were Small is a collection of some of the finest.
Each left hand page features Sara O’Leary’s simple, imaginative and super sweet text, whilst the right has an accompanying illustration by the wonderful Julie Morstad. O’Leary and Morstad compliment each other beautifully, neither one vying for attention, and this is perhaps why they work together so often: because they work so well together. The text, which could have felt flippant and dismissive in the wrong hands, feels caring and warm: it is affectionate and perfectly encapsulates the loving relationship between adult and child.
A lovely write up by Helen Spitzer over at Bunch.
Most children, after all, are trying to wrap their heads around how big or how small they are exactly. As parents we really confuse the issue – “Oh, what a big girl you are!” we tell our two-year-old who has mastered some skill but, “Aww, you’re my sweet little baby!” as we nuzzle a four-year-old on the verge of losing his baby-plump cheeks.O’Leary and Morstad’s much-cherished first book When You Were Small taps into the absurdity and wonder of never knowing that you’re growing or just how big or how small you are exactly. It also captures the wistful magic, the “pre-nostalgia” as O’Leary puts it, of being a parent.
Very nice to see When I Was Small featured on a list of Nurturing Adults in Kids Books over at Book People.
When You Were Small is a book of the week at Library Mice.
Delightfully retro in its design, When You Were Small marries Sara O’Leary’s eccentric and comical tale of a modern-day Tom Thumb with Julie Morstad’s exquisitely delicate and muted artwork. Text and artwork work in perfect harmony to create an unusual, sweet little book full of wit and brimming with love and comfort. There is a certain serenity oozing out of this book, and though little readers will be delighted by the wackiness and absurdity of some of the scenes, When You Were Small will spur tranquil bedtime reading.
Nerdy Book Club says they use When You Were Small as a writing prompt.
Julie Morstad's work featured at 49th Shelf with special notice given to the Henry books. Big thanks to Kerry Clare who also included us in her Books for Literacy Day list.
You can buy the books at BuyOlympia. They do have the loveliest listings.
