Kristi Yamaguchi; Illustrated by Tim Bowers
Kristi Yamaguchi's personal motto is Always Dream and also serves as the name of her charitable foundation for children. She has always believed in the power of dreams. Naturally, this is the crux of her first children's book. From Kristi: I founded the Always Dream Foundation to inspire children to reach for the stars. Through Poppy, I hope to reach kids directly, helping to pass along our message of hope that you are only limited by how big you can dream! Like Poppy, I learned about adversity and the importance of perseverance. As the mother of two young girls, I’m hoping that Poppy will inspire kids to do the same. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Dream Big Little Pig will go to support the Always Dream Foundation and the early childhood literacy initiative.
Poppy is a pig with big dreams. And big pig dreams aren't what you might think - they have nothing to do with suey. Poppy wants to be a star, but she isn't quite sure how to get there. She gives ballet a shot, but she leans toward the clumsy and away from the graceful. Her voice isn't good enough to make it as a famous singer, and modeling is (literally) a flop. Despite the encouragement from her family, Poppy is feeling like she won't ever uncover her talent.
And then our pig stumbles upon an ice rink, and immediately thinks it is the most beautiful sight she has ever seen. Although Poppy slips and slides all over the rink, she is determined to learn to skate properly. Poppy has found her passion! And every day the little pig improves until she is swirling and dipping all over the ice, just like a real skating star.
This is a cute book about learning to keep going when the going gets rough. The only negative are the three irritating catch phrases from Poppy's family that are repeated throughout the book. You can always just skip over those and hope your small listeners don't catch on. The message and cute illustrations far outweigh that little annoyance. Plus, the cover is pink and purple with tiny shimmery sparkles - a little girl's dream.
Review copy provided by Sourcebooks.
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