What is big? Join Douglas Florian and a decidedly big pink pig as they travel around town, across a continent, and through the universe, taking a look at things that are big bigger biggest! Bulletin Blue Ribbon Best of 2000 Award What's big? A pig is big. A pig is fat. A pig is bigger than my hat. What's bigger than a pig? You may well wonder. Fortunately, Douglas Florian and a very big, very pink pig have all the answers. A cow is bigger than a pig. A car is bigger than a cow. A truck is bigger than a car. And the universe? Well... The universe is wide in girth It is the biggest thing of all. Compared to it. all things seem small. Florian's rhyming, ever-expanding verses make us turn those pages as fast as we can; his fabulous colored pencil and watercolor illustrations are what slow us down to a lingering pace. Explore the concepts of big, bigger, and biggest while giggling at the image of a cow squeezing into a car to drive a pig into town. Florian's well-loved Mammalabilia: Poems and Paintings and Winter Eyes are equally read-aloudable! (Ages 3 to 6) --Emilie Coulter PreSchool-K-Three-line rhymes explore the concept of big, bigger, and biggest. A consistent formula is followed: "What's big?/A pig is big./A pig is fat./A pig is bigger than my hat./What's bigger than a pig?," etc. Successively larger animals or objects are introduced until at last the universe is reached. The rhymes themselves are not particularly fresh or original and not up to Florian's usual standards. While the book's design, with its brief sentences, bold font, and simple concepts, would seem to appeal to preschoolers, some of the vocabulary, such as "dimensions," "excel," and "girth," would likely be beyond them. The consistent presence of gray or yellow skies in the competent watercolor-and-colored-pencil illustrations gives them a rather dreary air. Eric Carle's Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me (Picture Book Studio, 1991) is a better choice for creative exploration of the concept of relative size. Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Ages 3-5. In this rhyming picture book, Florian introduces the concept of comparative size. "What's big? / A pig," begins the text, which expounds on the hugeness of pigs, then asks, "What's bigger than a pig? / A cow." Each question and reply leads to something still larger. "What's bigger than a cow? / A car. / It's bigger than a cow by far. Inside a car a cow can squeeze. / And drive a pig to town with ease." After consideration of a truck, a street, a neighborhood, a city, and the world, the universe is finally declared "the biggest thing of all." Florian's illustrations, watercolors with colored pencils, expand the text to make this a satisfying picture book. The first illustration shows just the tip of a pig's ear and part of the cap he wears against a midnight-blue, double-page spread. The last page shows the same night sky with the constellation of a pig pinpointed by stars and roughly outlined in white. The artwork is sophisticated, but it remains accessible to young children, who will enjoy the blithe spirit and lively details of the paintings. The smiling pig on the cover beckons kids to this well-designed picture book. Carolyn Phelan Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "An accessible, well-designed picture book."ALA Booklist What is big? Join Douglas Florian and a decidedly big pink pig as they travel around town, across a continent, and through the universe, taking a look at things that are big bigger biggest! Bulletin Blue Ribbon Best of 2000 Award Douglas Florian's books for children include A Pig Is Big , as well as the poetry collections Beast Feast; Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs; In the Swim; and Mammalabilia . Mr. Florian lives with his family in New York City.