Big Box [Turtleback]

Toni Morrison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2002

Here's what happens when parents, teachers, and other adults try to determine the boundaries of personal freedom for a group of youngsters, "who just can't handle their freedom." To make youngsters abide by their rules, the grown-ups create a world inside a box. A world with toys and games, and treats and gifts, and all kinds of stuff they think children need to be happy and carefree -- everything from a picture of the sky to jelly beans and brand new jeans. All Patty and Mickey and Liza Sue really want is the freedom to be themselves. But even confined inside a box, these clever children find their own ways to be free.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If Pulitzer Prize-winning Nobel laureate Toni Morrison and her son Slade hope to reach children with their rhyming message of personal freedom and individuality, they may have missed the mark. But if even a few excessively controlling grownups learn to "let children be children," this big, colorful picture book might serve its purpose after all. Patty, Mickey, and Liza Sue live in a big brown box (locked from the inside) with all the amenities a modern child dreams of: TV, Barbie, pizza, Spice Girls T-shirts, beanbag chairs, and Pepsi. All this, but no liberty. They've been placed in this box because the adults in their lives believe "those kids can't handle their freedom." They have too much fun in school, sing when they should be studying, feed honey to the bees, and play handball where they shouldn't. Parents, neighbors, and teachers are uncomfortable with these irrepressible children, and hope to control them with strict boundaries. Meanwhile, the younger-yet-wiser children just want the freedom to become themselves: "Even sparrows scream/ And rabbits hop/ And beavers chew trees when they need 'em./ I don't mean to be rude: I want to be nice,/ But I'd like to hang on to my freedom."

Giselle Potter's lovely, childlike paintings create an atmosphere of naïve bewilderment, as the plaintive children wail, over and over, "If freedom is handled just your way/ Then it's not my freedom or free." Morrison's first foray into children's literature is a puzzling, thickly ironic book that asks more questions than it answers. Even as a celebration of the unfettered exuberance of children in the face of societal oppression, a lighter touch would have done wonders. (Click to see a sample spread. Text copyright 1999 by Toni Morrison. Illustrations copyright 1999 by Giselle Potter. With permission of Jump at the Sun, Hyperion Books for Children.) --Emilie Coulter --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Nobel laureate Morrison's debut book for children unfortunately shows little of the childlike perspective that so masterfully informs The Bluest Eye. This enigmatic tale, written in verse, is inspired by a story made up by Morrison's then nine-year-old son. The opening scene depicts two girls and a boy who live in a "big brown box" with a door that has "three big locks." The trio have been sent there by adults who think they "can't handle their freedom." Suburban Patty has "too much fun in school all day" ("When we pledged to the flag, she'd spoil it"); urban Mickey writes his name on mailbox lids and plays handball next to a sign that forbids the game; and country girl Liza Sue lets the chickens keep their eggs and feeds honey to the bees. Each child, when told that he or she has overstepped the bounds, counters with the identical unchildlike response: "I know you are smart and I know that you think/ You're doing what is best for me./ But if freedom is handled just your way/ Then it's not my freedom or free." The parents, never visible visiting the box, nonetheless leave behind plenty of parting gifts (e.g., "Blimpies and Frisbees... and Matchbox cars that go"). In the final scene, the children, inexplicably, easily clamber over the sides of the big brown box to freedom. Potter's (Gabriella's Song) handsome illustrations in a postmodern folk-art style possess an austere simplicity, effectively marking the contrast to the adults' commercial bribes littering the floor. But ultimately the tale is mundane; the social commentary on childhood, freedom and the tendency of parents to give children things instead of time and attention seems aimed more at adult readers than children. Ages 8-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Turtleback
• Publisher: Demco Media (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606260684
• ISBN-13: 978-0606260688
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 10.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,306,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly insightful yet disturbing modern day parable, November 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Big Box (Jump at the Sun) (Hardcover)

The story seems to hit home, but hit hard. As an African American psychologist, who works in schools, I think that the 8-12 year old audience could be very disturbed by the imagery of being locked away, for mere exhuberance. But the story also oversimplifies the nature of emotional disturbances and behavior disorders, for which intervention is not just an adult world's attempt at control and conformity. If children can participate in making decisions in their life, and follow through responsibly, to their community, then their freedom is often their own. I think the political commentary is really directed at adults, and thus the target audience should not be children.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rebellious Story, January 21, 2000

By 

Ebtehal Ahmad (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Box (Jump at the Sun) (Hardcover)

Excellent work as one might have expected, but it is one that deals with a controversial issue. The story deals with the issue of freedom narrating the tale of three children who were put in a big box because they did not meet the rules of the adults. When those children are in the box, they receive a lot of nice things from their parents, but the drawings show their faces to be passive and lacking something. The adults are always described to "love very much" these children, but they use this love to take away the kids' freedom which "they cannot handle."

The story ends with the sarcastic question "who says they cannot handle their freedom?" accompanied with a drawing of the three children breaking out of the box.

I can imagine the debate this story is going to create, for, on the surface, it deals with the sensitive issue of how much freedom should be granted to children, and whether they are illegible to make some or all decisions. The story kind of encourages kids to rebel against the adults who represent oppression in this story, and this might be problematic for some people. The story of course implies a much more serious message than the simple one introduced through the words and rhymes. The general concept of oppression is the main theme here. The drawings help illustrate this message..again this might be very problematic for people.

I personally loved the fact that it made me uncertain of how to introduce the story to my kids and how to discuss it with them. I am not that afraid to be uncertain in front of them any more. I show them, sometimes, that I am unable to decide about things or actually unable to judge things, and this takes a big load off my back. Hay, finally a not very boring children's story....

Any way, me and my children had a good time reading the story and discussing the meanings of it. I tried to ignore the idea of them rebelling against me as much as I can because I like my dictatorship over them :), but they impressed me with their questions and statements, and that was what I mostly liked about the story..the discussion it stirred.

My son took the book to bed, and I heard him later reading it loudly to himself with a reciting tone ..I hope he is not getting any ideas!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Big Box. . .A Must Read!, December 12, 1999

By 

Allyse Hall (Long Branch, New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Box (Jump at the Sun) (Hardcover)

Toni Morrison's The Big Box is a wonderful book with all the elements necessary to make it a classic. Although one would think that this book should be in the adult book section instead of the children's section, I would certainly read this book to children between the ages of 10-18. I think that reading it to a class could lead to some very enlightening conversation, and it would also make a great additional read for any high school psychology class.

The lovely illustations and the rhyming text make this an easy book to read even though it deals with such a heavy topic.

Every parent, social worker and educator should have a copy of this book to refer to so that they will never be tempted to put any child into a big box.