Can I Come Too?

by Brian Patten, Nicola Bayley (Illustrator)

Overview

A very small mouse sets out to find something special―the biggest creature in the world.

Along her journey, she meets a menagerie of animals who want to join her in her quest, including a frog, a badger, and a tiger. She visits lakes, rivers, woods, and even climbs a mountain and stops by a zoo. Finally, she arrives at the ocean. Will she finally find the biggest animal of all?

From the world-renowned team of author Brian Patten and illustrator Nicola Bayley, this gentle story is a celebration of the world's wide variety of living creatures. While the poetic text and cumulative tale treatment pull readers along, the gorgeous colored pencil art will have little ones lost in the wonders of the natural world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682632185
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,027,256
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Brian Patten is a poet and author of books for children and adults. He lives in England.

Nicola Bayley was born in Singapore and grew up in China and England. She attended St. Martin's School of Art and the Royal College of Art, where she studied under Quentin Blake. The illustrator of many acclaimed picture books for children, she lives in England.

Editorial Reviews

"The meticulously executed colored-pencil illustrations, whether of feather or fur, ferns or foxgloves, are so exquisite that children will become lost in them. Stunning art, paired with a simple poetic text, pulls readers along as they wonder which animal they will meet next." —School Library Journal

"A classic children's fable, with delicate, detailed, realistic portraits of each animal intron and perfectly cadenced pages of calm narrative conveying wonder and delight in the immense variety of living creatures." —Midwest Book Reviews

"The evergreen 'dream big' message gets a gracious, nicely designed treatment here." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

08/01/2014
PreS-K—In this cumulative tale, a very small mouse decides she wants to have an extremely large adventure. "'I'll go and find the biggest creature in the world,'" she thinks. Along the way, the mouse meets many animals that want to join her. Stopping by lakes, rivers, and woods and climbing a mountain and visiting a zoo, they finally arrive at the ocean, and the biggest animal is revealed. The mouse is so delighted to have met all the animals and to have found an answer to her question that she curls up in a ball and falls asleep. Her traveling companions then head back to their homes. The meticulously executed colored-pencil illustrations, whether of feather or fur, ferns or foxgloves, are so exquisite that children will become lost in them. Stunning art, paired with a simple poetic text, pulls readers along as they wonder which animal they will meet next.—Paula Huddy, The Blake School-Highcroft Campus, Wayzata, MN

School Library Journal

2014-07-29
A tiny mouse yearning for an outsize adventure sets out to find the biggest creature in the world. As she encounters successively larger animals in the wooded setting, the mouse asks each, "Are you the biggest creature in the world?" A frog, kingfisher, cat, otter and others all demur, but each asks to join the search. In addition to woodland and domestic animals, the entourage stops at the zoo to add a tiger and polar bear. (The bear's heard that the biggest "lives in the ocean where the river ends.") Sure enough, the pilgrims—arranged in size from small to large, silhouetted against the setting sun—gaze at a breaching whale, "as big as an island." As night falls, the animals head homeward, marveling that they'd "never have seen such a wonderful thing" without the little mouse. As she curls up to sleep, she too is delighted to have had such "a very big adventure." Patten's telling, plainspoken if a tad saccharine, suits the tale, and Bayley's lovely, realistic colored-pencil compositions, elegantly framing the well-chosen text type, will attract many families.The evergreen "dream big" message gets a gracious, nicely designed treatment here. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews