I Want to Be (Picture Puffins) [Mass Market Paperback]

Thylias Moss (Author), Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1998 | Age Level: 3 and up | Series: Picture Puffins

What do you want to be? a young girl is asked. Her answer is full of the soaring imagination and daring of youth: I want to be in motion but I want the ants in my pants to sometimes take a vacation. Sometimes I want to be slow but not so slow that everything passes me by. Poet Thylias Moss's extraordinary images are brought to life with Jerry Pinkney's equally extraordinary illustrations. Exhilirating, verbally and visually; the very essence of youthful energy and summertime freedom. --Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

PW gave a starred review to an African American girl's poetic musings on existence: "Both author and illustrator push the limits of their arts; they deliver illusions with the texture of truth." Ages 3-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140562869
• ISBN-13: 978-0140562866
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.1 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,396,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Touching Story for Children of all Ages, March 25, 2000

By 

Nicole (Laurel, Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Want to Be (Picture Puffins) (Mass Market Paperback)

Have you ever read a children's book, and wondered, "Wow, I wish that I would have read this when I was a child?" That is exactly how I felt after reading "I Want to Be." The book had a similar impact on my students. My first grade class asks me to read this book all of the time! "I Want to Be" has inspired the students to write about "what they want to be." This book does a wonderful job of allowing children to express their creativity, yet very realistically. This is a fascinating story with beautiful illustrations. The narrator, a young child, states, "I want to be pretty, but not so pretty...." and, "I want to be tall, but not too tall..." Children love reading books that can relate directly to their lives and dreams.