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Summary
Summary
An adorable cautionary tale from Caldecott Honoree Vera Brosgol
We are the Little Guys.
Yes, we are small. But there are a lot of us.
Together we are strong, and we can get all we need.
The Little Guys might be small, but they aim to be mighty.
As they head off to find breakfast, they can conquer anything through teamwork--cross deep waters, dig through obstacles, and climb the tallest trees. Nothing can stop them!
But as they begin to amass more than they need, the creatures in the forest ponder--what happens when no one can stop the Little Guys?
This slyly funny and rambunctious read-aloud explores how strength in numbers only works when the whole community unites together.
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2019
A 2019 Horn Book Fanfare Best of 2019 Book
Author Notes
Vera Brosgol was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1984 and moved to the United States when she was five. Her graphic novels, Anya's Ghost and Be Prepared , were published by First Second, and her debut picture book Leave Me Alone! was a 2017 Caldecott Honor book. She drew storyboards for the animated films Coraline , ParaNorman , and The Boxtrolls . She lives in Portland, Oregon with her dog Omar, who could probably take on the Little Guys, no sweat.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Caldecott Honor-winner Brosgol brings her marvelous story-making perspective down to the forest floor, home to a band of diminutive creatures with acorn caps, red noses, full-body beards, and stick arms and legs. "Yes, we are small," the Little Guys explain, ranged on the shore of their tiny island. "But there are a lot of us." At first, they represent a paragon of cooperative labor. They gather food, standing atop each other to scavenge berries from a shrub ("We can find enough food for all of us") and burrowing into a fox's winter stores ("Nothing stops the Little Guys!"). They're actually quite obnoxious, as readers will start to realize ("None for you! All for us!"). After they hoard a forest's worth of resources and prepare to snatch a single final berry from the mouth of a songbird, they suffer a noisy downfall. Brosgol introduces an unexpected idea-sometimes, collective power makes bullies out of pipsqueaks-and adds a clever, collaborative resolution. The Little Guys' faces are all beard, so the story's emotional arc is conveyed by other creatures' reactions, along with action lines and big, comic-style lettering. Expertly paced and very funny, this readaloud doesn't go quite where readers think it will. Ages 3-7. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
The strongest guys in the whole forest are the Little Guyssmall pastel-colored creatures with acorn-cap hats; red, nose-like appendages; and stick arms and legs. Together there is nothing they cannot conquer. For example, their quest to find breakfast includes crossing a deep body of water, making their way through a vast forest, and climbing the tallest tree there is. But this presumed root-for-the-underdog story takes a humorously unexpected turn, as close observation shows the Little Guys have been obnoxiously stealing from the other forest animals the whole time (None for you! All for us!). Their quest for forest dominance becomes clear through the animals alarmed facial expressions and body language. When the Little Guys confidence and amassed pile of food are both at their highest, they greedily attempt to snatch one last berry, leading to a colossal (and deserved) tumble. Brosgols (Leave Me Alone, rev. 9/16) rich jewel-toned illustrations (drawn with dip pen and ink and acrylic ink and painted in watercolor, with some Adobe Photoshop shenanigans afterward) are imbued with humor both subtle and exaggerated, enhancing and extending the spare text. With its action-filled double-page spreads that vary their format effectively (including a well-placed vertical spread as well as one that uses panels); expert comedic timing; and the oddly endearing Little Guys, the story is well suited for read-alouds. emmie stuart (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Yes, we are small!! But there are a LOT of us!!! In simply drawn cartoon scenes, Caldecott Honor Book author-illustrator Brosgol sends a line of tiny, bearded gnomes, sporting acorn caps over comical Kilroy was here -style noses, through a peaceful forest, stripping the berry bushes and despoiling the larders of chipmunks and other, larger forest creatures. None for you! All for us! Hand it over to the Little Guys! Perched at last atop an immense, tottering pile of plunder, the pirates proudly declare they have everything moments before an attempt to snatch one last little berry from one last little bird brings the whole stash crashing down into the river. But rather than letting the Little Guys be swept away, their former victims gather to pull them out, demonstrating a generosity of spirit that sparks a profound change of attitude in the shivering mites: We have all we need, and together as they stand atop one another's shoulders in the closing picture to feed, rather than rob, a family of nestlings we are strong. The animals' willingness to forgive the Little Guys their trespasses adds a peacemaking element to this pointed exploration of the notion that collective action without a moral foundation just becomes mob rule.--John Peters Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
Dreamy marshmallows, rude animals, a portal to a mirror world: These gorgeous books expand minds. I CAN ONLY DRAW WORMS Written and illustrated by Will Mabbitt. Maybe Mabbitt can't draw many things, but boy, can he conceive and execute a witty, surprising, maximum fun picture book. Oh, and this one doubles as a counting exercise. Having announced that worms are his entire repertoire, Mabbitt proceeds to wrangle 10 neon-bright ones onto the pages, with hilarious difficulty. They're so hard to tell apart. And poor worm No. 8: "It's not true that if a worm is cut in half it makes two worms," we learn. "It makes two half worms." 32 pp. Penguin. $14.99. (Ages 3 to 5) THE SUN SHINES EVERYWHERE Written by Mary Ann Hoberman. Illustrated by Luciano Lozano. If you're as picky about rhyming picture books as I am, you'll be excited that the former children's poet laureate Hoberman, whose meter never falters, has created this clever ode to the sun and its globe-spanning, life-giving power. With Lozano's cheerful art, the pages fly by, dropping tidbits of geoscience and empathy-building name-checks of far-off places: "Some children live in Paris / And others live in Rome. / Some children dwell in New Rochelle / And some call China home." (But why no mention of Africans?) 32 pp. Little, Brown. $17.99. (Ages 3 to 7) MOST MARSHMALLOWS Written and illustrated by Rowboat Watkins. Can marshmallows be exquisite? That's the word that leaps to mind for this new picture book from Watkins ("Rude Cakes," "Big Bunny"), which is full of irresistible handmade figures and precisely detailed diorama art. With their delicately penciled-on faces and outfits, the marshmallows in this world are everyday folks: "They go to school most mornings / and learn to be squishy / and how to stand in rows," and they live in houses and celebrate birthdays. Like all Watkins's books, this one has wonderfully compact language and an ending that surprises, with a rousing, wholehearted imaginative leap. It turns out even humble marshmallows can - and should - dream big. 40 pp. Chronicle. $16.99. (Ages 3 to 7) ANOTHER Written and illustrated by Christian Robinson. Robinson's first book as both author and illustrator is a gentle, wordless wonder that follows a little girl and her cat after they find a portal into another world. There, children and pets encounter mirror versions of themselves - wearing different-colored clothes, so you can tell which is which. Robinson's geometric precision combines with his flatout adorable collaged characters to make for a unique kind of enchantment. You'll find yourself rotating the book to try to put the story's sophisticated puzzle together. 32 pp. Atheneum. $17.99. (Ages 3 to 8) A STORY THAT GROWS Written and illustrated by Gilles Bachelet. This nifty bedtime book from the esteemed French illustrator Bachelet has a parent-child pair of creatures on every spread. Each kid is in a species-specific crib, ready to hear a story that takes off in an appropriate direction: The ostrich's story "hatches," the snail's story "takes ... its ... time." The creatures, who include a truck and a Martian, are not named - this book asks for, and will reward, intense visual reading from young listeners, as they pore over the gorgeous, kooky bedrooms, filled with hilarious customized beds and toys. 32 pp. Eerdmans. $16. (Ages 3 to 7) OINK Written and illustrated by David Elliot. Elliot's funny story is told in animal sounds and onomatopoeia ("Mooo!" and "Boing!"). One by one, unruly animals join a pig in his bathtub. Pig looks distraught, then angry, until he creates a tub-clearing moment (think unidentified bubbles) and enjoys his bath in peace. The delicacy and subtlety of the art only adds to the frisky humor. 32 pp. Gecko. $16.99. (Ages 3 to 7) THE LITTLE GUYS Written and illustrated by Vera Brosgol. The little acorn-capped creatures in Brosgol's ("Leave Me Alone!") latest gem think they're "the strongest guys in the whole forest" - there are so many of them, after all. Marching and climbing together, they try to dominate bigger animals. As they try to yank a berry from a baby bird's mouth, they crash to earth. Chastened, they climb back up to feed the whole nest. What a fantastic message: not just "teamwork," but actual community. 40 pp. Roaring Brook. $17.99. A GREEN PLACE TO BE The Creation of Central Park Written and illustrated by Ashley Benham Yazdani. This delightful slice of history shows the hard work and careful planning that went into one of the world's great outdoor public spaces, New York City's "vibrant jewel." Yazdani's mesmerizing watercolor and pencil art teems with fascinating details as it makes the park's past and present seem unified, driving home the importance of creating and preserving "quiet green spots in a fast-changing world." 40 pp. Candlewick. $17.99. (Ages 7 to 10) MARIA RUSSO is the children's books editor at the Book Review.
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-The little guys are mighty, mostly because there are many of them and they work well together. In their determination to prove that they can fend for themselves, they are sometimes discourteous to those with whom they share the forest. Pillaging dens and conquering large animals, the little guys think they have it all, but do they really? Set in a forest teeming with wildlife, this picture book features tiny cartoon creatures with acorn caps who wreak havoc wherever they go while making their collective stronger. There are several messages here: little ones can achieve a lot, much can be accomplished through teamwork, and, most important, a community is bolstered through sharing and kindness. Brosgol's artwork is lively, with detailed facial expressions. The action moves quickly, and the buildup is exciting. Young readers will easily identify the problems in the story and will be contented by the climax and solution. While there is power in numbers, it is better to use that strength for good rather than selfish gain. VERDICT A terrific and engaging read-aloud for early elementary students, and a great discussion starter.-Amy Shepherd, St. Anne's Episcopal School, Middleton, DE © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Tiny creatures rampage through a forest collecting food for themselves only to discover that kindness and cooperation trump greed.The plot is simple and the first-person-plural narrative brisk and clever. Irony is evident immediately as the title characters claim to be "the strongest guys in the whole forest" but are shown as tiny dots on a small hummock in a pond. After navigating the pond (and bragging about it) they tromp through the forest, where they pick berries, steal from a variety of animals, and return to their island to pile their loot. All is well until they realize that a little red bird has managed to retain a single berry, which proves to be their downfall (literally). Readers and listeners may wonder why the other animals then offer assistance, but their actions result in a change of heart for the little guys. Brosgol's cartoon-style illustrations, which appear to have been created in watercolor and black pen, infuse enormous personality into her quirky characters. Acorn caps rest atop pale bodies with scalloped bottoms and stick arms and legs. Each has a single orange semicircle below their acorn cap that might be a nose. Forest animals and setting, meanwhile, are recognizably rendered, though exaggerated expressions add to the humor. Despite (or because of?) their hubris, these little guys are oddly charming and seem likely to amuse young listeners while providing an object lesson about community and collaboration. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
