I Can Be Anything!

Starred review from February 1, 2010
Newbery Medalist Spinelli (My Daddy and Me
) again demonstrates his versatility as a writer in this buoyant riff on a familiar theme. “When I grow up, what shall I be?” asks the young narrator, answering this question with blithe, whimsical options, pictured with playful exaggeration in Liao's (The Sound of Colors
) energetic watercolor and acrylic art. Accompanied by frolicking bunnies, the boy envisions himself as a “puddle stomper/ apple chomper/ mixing-bowl licker/ tin-can kicker,” among numerous other “professions.” Though often clad in overalls, in some scenarios he wears more fanciful attire, hovering in a butterfly costume as a “honeysuckle smeller” or performing in a clown suit for a sad lion as a “silly-joke teller.” Liao's artwork runs with the simple, evocative phrases, striking a balance between the classic and the contemporary (on many pages, the boy resembles nothing so much as a modern-day Little Boy Blue, yet he's equally comfortable commanding the stage as a jester or magician). It's an uplifting, imaginative vision of life's possibilities that suggests that there are no limits—not even the sky. Ages 3–6.

March 1, 2010
K-Gr 2-The imaginative young boy in this marvelous story has some unusual answers to a frequently asked question. The youngster, clad in overalls and a cap, dreams of being "a pumpkin grower," "puddle stomper," or "silly-joke teller." Both the lilting text and amusing watercolor and acrylic illustrations are full of energy. The boy runs and skips from one adventurous goal to the next, accompanied by rabbits, frogs, and other little creatures. His animal friends gaze at him through the window of a homey kitchen in his future role as a "mixing-bowl licker." When he imagines being a "baby-sis soother," the smiling child is dressed in an elephant costume, and his sister laughs. In the end, on a four-page foldout, the boy decides, "So many jobs!/They're all such fun/I'm going to choose]/EVERY ONE!" This outstanding book pairs well with Leonid Gore's "When I Grow Up" (Scholastic, 2009) or Jeanie Franz Ransom's "What Do Parents Do? (]When You're Not Home)" (Peachtree, 2007)."Linda L. Walkins, Mount Saint Joseph Academy, Brighton, MA"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2010
Preschool-K Spinelli takes the common theme of kids wondering what to be when they grow up and gives it a charming twist. In rhyming phrases a young boy considers: When I grow up, what shall I be? / Of all the many, many jobs, which one will be the best for me? Pumpkin grower / dandelion blower / paper-plane folder / puppy-dog holder. Spinellis cunning touch is that all of the possibilities are things a kid can do right now, without having to go through all the pesky waiting of growing up. A gatefold at the end provides the solution: he is going to choose every one of them! The exuberant, larger-than-life watercolor-and-acrylic illustrations evoke the whimsy of the imagined scenarios and include a troupe of rabbits that appears somewhere on each page. A simple concept wonderfully executed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2010
A young boy can be anything: a "snowball smoother," a "baby-sis soother," a "cross-legged sitter," or a "make-believe critter" in this amusing rhyming book. Watercolor and acrylic illustrations celebrate the ordinary while imagining the unusual roles that a kid can play with a little bit of creativity, energy, and a sense of the ridiculous.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)