Mr Big by Ed Vere

Due to some technical difficulties of brain-exploding proportions, my scheduled mini-reviews will now appear at a later date. Rather than skive off altogether, however, I have a review of a rather cool children’s book.

As the first page tells us, “Mr Big had a small problem. Compared to everyone else, he was extremely . . . [turn page] big!” And there is a picture of Mr Big: a cartoon gorilla looking magnificent in stripy jacket, bow tie and pork pie hat. He is definitely big.

The book continues that wherever Mr Big goes, all anyone sees is how large he is and so they avoid Mr Big as much as possible. “So inside, Mr Big felt very, very small.”

Now, as a person who’d hit 5 foot 8 by the age of eleven and who towered over her peers and was nicknamed Green Giant by some little oiks (green school uniform, you see) naturally the premise of this story interested me.

The book shows Mr Big in various social situations including the bus, the swimming pool and the café, and depicts the fear and dismay of those around him. Mr Big has sad, soulful eyes, but the smaller animals around him don’t seem to notice these. Instead all they see is his size.

One day Mr Big notices a piano in a shop window. Like him, it is large, overlooked and totally alone. Mr Big buys the piano and takes it home and then something rather marvellous happens. Whilst thinking of the things that make him sad, Mr Big begins to play the piano and his music drifts out of his open window and catches the attention of those who have shunned him. Like so many of history’s great loners, Mr Big fashions his pain into art and this act of self-expression changes the course of his life. Soon afterwards, Mr Big receives an invitation to join a jazz band and finally Mr Big finds companionship, acclaim and acceptance.

It’s a simple, hopeful story but it deals beautifully with questions of difference and tolerance. Mr Big goes from being the ultimate outsider to a popular performer with fans of his own. In this respect it’s a story with a happy ending, but there is also a lot of sorrow in the book, and this seems to intrigue children too. Why is Mr Big so unhappy? Why isn’t he allowed into the group? Why is big seen as bad (after all, aren’t children encouraged to grow big and strong)? Why are the little creatures more popular than the big one?

It also introduces young children to the concept of rejection (which they’ll almost certainly encounter during their school years – and ever after if they choose to pursue a career in writing. Ahem) and the fact that rejection can occur for the most arbitrary of reasons. The treatment of Mr Big does rather echo the unpopular/uncool status sometimes ascribed to overweight children, and indeed overweight adults. So some pretty big issues (so to speak) for a book with only 32 pages.

The story and its themes aside, there are some wonderful illustrations in Mr Big. Some of the best images are of roofscapes depicting dozens of different windows and the small figures behind them. If the reader looks closely, Mr Big can be seen at a certain window playing his piano. These particular images are strangely affecting, possibly because it gives a sense of the scale of Mr Big’s rejection – so many windows and none of them belonging to friends of Mr Big – and these images are my favourite part of the book.

On the back cover of the book there is a back view of Mr Big with a new friend and the reminder that: “A TRUE friend can come in any shape or SIZE…” Words to live by.

Puffin, 32 pages. ISBN-10: 9780141500607. Once again I am indebted to my local children’s centre who provided me with this free copy of Mr Big as part of the Booktrust Booktime initiative.

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