Picture Book Monday - A review of A Giant Crush

Having your first real crush can be a wonderful, and sometimes painful, emotional roller coaster journey. Since Valentine's Day is only a few days away, it is fitting to share this story with you. In the story you will meet a large bunny boy who has a big crush on one of his classmates. More than anything he wants to tell his crush how he feels about her, but how is he supposed to do this? Will a Valentine's Day card solve his problem?

A giant crush

Gennifer Choldenko

Illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Picture Book

For ages 6 to 8

Penguin, 2012, 978-0-399-24352-3

Cooper and his friend Jackson are making Valentine’s Day cards when Cooper notices that Jackson has created a giant card, a card that is full of chocolate Kisses. Cooper asks Jackson about the card, but Jackson chooses not to respond to his friend’s question.

   On Monday Cooper notices that Jackson has a big yellow flower in his backpack in the morning and that the flower disappears before show-and-tell time. On Tuesday Jackson has some chocolate hearts in his lunch bag, but by the time they get to the cafeteria, the hearts are gone and when Cooper asks about the missing candy Jackson blushes until his cheeks are as “red as a wrong-answer pencil.”

   After school that day Cooper finally figures out that his friend Jackson likes a cute little girl called Cami. The problem is that Carter Corey also likes Cami, and he is not shy to show her how he feels. Poor Jackson is afraid to openly tell Cami that he likes her and is convinced that a cute girl like Cami could never like him, a boy who is rather large for his age.

   In this sweet Valentine’s story the talents of Gennifer Choldenko and Melissa Sweet are combined to give readers a delightful tale. As the story unfolds, we see how hard it can be to show someone how you feel about them, and how precious good friends are.