A Great Big Cuddle: Poems for the Very Young
Written by Michael Rosen and Illustrated by Chris Riddell
Bibliography:
Rosen, M., & Riddell, C. (2015). A great big cuddle: Poems for the very young. Candlewick Press.
Summary:
A Great Big Cuddle is a collection of performance poems written by Richael Rosen and illustrated by Chris Riddell. Each poem has its own unique formatting that guides the reader through how to read the poem, both in order it should be read and in what tone. The poems appear with their own illustrations that bring the characters and subjects of the poems to life in light-hearted, colorful, and cartoony images.
Analysis:
You simply cannot read this book without playing into its natural rhythm and even creating your own performance in your mind if you read it to yourself. Without the font, color, and stylistic changes seen in almost every poem, I do not think these poems would flow the same, so the stylistic choices pair very well to play into the performance of each piece. As you read it, you really do want to shout out the larger lettering or speed through the lines that are placed super close together like the poem just can't help but to be rushed through with excitement or a manic panic.
Riddell's illustrations only heighten the playfulness of Rosen's poetry. Most of the characters are animals or fuzzy, muppet-like monsters, but there is some mix of racial/ethnic diversity among the human depictions, but it does lean much heavier in representation of white people over others with 18/23 characters being white. I've been conducting a diversity audit at my own library for the last couple of months, so maybe it sticks out to me more in my current headspace, but I've come to expect a better ratio for any books published after 2015. However, this book is right on the line, so it does seem to be a bit more outdated in that aspect compared to book published in the 2020s.
There is one poem that does not sit right with me compared to the fun stylings of the others in the book, but not necessarily in a bad way. There's nothing particularly wrong with the poem or its illustration, but it does provide a very unsettling vibe that is reminiscent of seeing characters like Slenderman or Siren Head for the first time but somehow put into a "friendly" looking character. All that said, I will let you explore the book on your own and discover the nightmare fuel that is both the poem and illustration of Bendy Man.
Excerpt:
We Can
We can do what a bumblebee does
Buzz buzz buzz, buzz buzz buzz
We can do what brown cows do
Moo moo moo, moo moo moo
We can talk like parrots talk
Squawk squawk squawk, squawk squawk squawk
We can sing like doorbells sing
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring
We can hoot like cars hoot
Toot toot toot, toot toot toot
We can wash like you wash
Splosh splosh splosh, splosh splosh splosh
We can grumble like teddies grumble
Mumble mumble mumble, mumble mumble mumble
Activity Idea:
This book is formatted perfectly to create a very interactive story time for a young audience. Instead of just sitting down and reading the whole book to an audience, it would be great to lean into the color-coding and format changes that appear throughout the book and lend themselves to a type of call and response style. The instructor can pick a handful of poems, the one above being a perfect example, and give kids a small script or instruction of how they should interact with the poem. It would be great to incorporate some technology with a large screen or projector to make these instructions clearer. For example, before reading We Can, the instructor would explain that they will say a sound three times then point at the kids for them to say those words back three times. Before the poem, it would be a good idea to provide examples and practice with other sound words saying, "when I say, 'boom, boom, boom,' you'll say back 'boom, boom, boom.'"
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