Too Tall Alice
By Barbara Worton Illustrated by Dom Rodi
Genre: Children’s
I must admit that when I was first asked to review this book I was skeptical about the subject matter. I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that I’m tall and have never had an issue with my height…but then again I’m male. Then in the same breath I should say that people taller than me creep me out! Okay, I’m quirky and I generally don’t release these oddities on here but this one just seems to suit. When I say tall people creep me out it’s prevents me from talking to people or even standing in close proximity to people taller than me (I’m 6’2″). Now that I’m put that out there I’ll get on with the book.
Barbara Warton tells the woes of Alice who is tall “not T-Rex, Empire State Building tall…Just maybe four inches taller than the other eight-year-old girls”. Too Tall Alice come across as slightly neurotic (yeah perhaps not a judgment call I should be making after the above statement) but I like it. Alice’s neurotics comes to a climax when she overhears her parents and their friends talking about her height. I’m not sure how realistic this is but I wasn’t ready to let this get in the way of my enjoyment of the book.
The one problem I had with this book was the font selection. I usually don’t think about the font being used in a book (but if there is a note on the font I’ll read it once I’ve completed the book because you never know when that information will come in handy for Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy!) but the font choice made reading this book cumbersome at times. I found I would have to look at the word a few times in order to get it sometimes, especially when I started to read the book.
Dom Rodi’s illustrations enhance the story. They aren’t complex or overly simple but they really helped to bring the story to life. I guess the best way to describe the appearance of this book would be that it looks like scrapbook. I really like the scrapbook concept this book has going for it.
I really enjoyed this book and think I’ll pass it on to my eight year old niece who is slightly taller than many girls in her class.
That's the Book! 