Henry Cole has written and illustrated more than 150 books for children, including Spot, the Cat; And Tango Makes Three; Oink?; and Little Bo in France. He is also the illustrator of With a Little Help from My Friends by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. A former elementary school teacher, he now writes and paints full time.
A bug may look huge to itself and other bugs. A leaf may seem big
among other leaves. When you put the two objects next to each
other, one will look bigger in comparison to the other. Cole has
taken this idea of scale and turned it into a fascinating story
that will delight kids and enthrall parents and teachers looking to
teach the concept to young children. The lush paintings capture the
beauty of the natural world while also showing simple comparisons.
The spare text is perfectly used throughout, highlighting the
unique qualities of the things that surround us. Cole starts off
with a single ladybug and escalates to the vast bright blue sky
before bringing the reader back down to the smaller level of a
single ladybug crawling on a napping dog's nose. The concept of
scale is brilliantly depicted on the title page (where tiny
ladybugs crawl over the title of the book in large font) as well as
the endpapers. The different font sizes further highlight the use
of scale in his breathtaking illustrations. Big Bug is a unique
reading experience with broad appeal.-- "School Library Journal,
STARRED REVIEW"
In Cole's latest picture book, an object can be seen as big or
little depending on context. The words "Big bug" appear on a
double-page spread almost filled with a picture of a ladybug. The
next spread, illustrating "Little bug / Big leaf," shows a smaller
picture of the same ladybug on a large leaf. Each turn of the page
takes the viewer farther away. The leaf is little compared with a
nearby flower, but the flower is little next to a dog, which is
dwarfed by a cow. After the "big" object pictured is the sky, the
comparison vector shifts, and everything named is smaller than its
predecessor. Well matched with the concept, the mixedmedia
illustrations are simple and effective. Cole makes good use of
changing perspectives in the skillfully composed paintings of rural
scenes. Children will enjoy picking out the objects that appear in
several illustrations, as they diminish or increase in size from
page to page. An attractive addition to picture-book
collections.--May 1, 2014 "Booklist"
What is big and what is little? It's an enormous question,
especially for young children who are just beginning to acquire a
tentative understanding of their place in the physical world. The
concepts of scale and spatial relationships are presented in a
series of scenes comparing creatures and objects in various
juxtapositions depending on viewpoint or perspective. The tiny
ladybug appears very large when viewed up close, but place it on a
leaf, and it is miniscule. Zooming in on a flower makes it appear
enormous, but it's much smaller when placed next to a dog, which in
turn is much smaller than the cow. The cow is tiny when set against
farm buildings--which seem very small in relation to the vastness
of the sky. Cole's beautifully rendered, sharp, bright, borderless
double-page spreads are textured and sharply focused and are
perfectly scaled to reinforce the concept. Text is strictly limited
to labels in appropriately proportioned type size, each of the
creatures and objects big or little within their context. It is a
carefully constructed demonstration of a tricky concept, weakened
by the final image in which the abstract "little nap" is introduced
after the series of concrete, recognizable examples. Lively
discussion between parent and child will help to make sense of it
all. Visually lovely and appealing. (Picture book. 3-7)-- "Kirkus
Reviews on March 15"
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