When I Grow Up I’d Like To Be..

When I Grow Up I’d Like To Be..

Rob Biddulph

HarperCollins GB, 2025

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9780008627713

Sailor, jet pilot, gardener, captain of the sports team, vet, teacher, ballerina, and so many more…little people have big dreams when they are asked that perennial question about what they want to be when they grow up.  And these days nothing is impossible.  But there is one thing that is more important than anything else…

Through rhyming text and vivid, bold illustrations Biddulph captures the aspirations of a number of children offering opportunities for little readers to not only share their own dreams but also discover possibilities they might not have thought of.  And that doesn’t even consider those that might open up in the near future!

But it’s not just for young readers – who will also enjoy finding the hidden objects -these sorts of books are perfect for helping budding readers and writers as they serve as a wonderful model for a class book.  Imagine the interest in writing and illustrating a page about your dreams for your future and then having these collated into a book to be pored over and over, maybe even set up as a slideshow to be shared with parents and grandparents from afar. Even research can begin as they discover just what is involved in their choices perhaps inviting parents or representatives of their choices to talk to them -learning that it is often not enough to say what they want but justifying it too.

Personal, in-context activities like these are irresistible to young children and boost their writing and reading enormously as they have such an explicit, overt purpose and meaning consolidating what they expect from a story.

But, in the meantime, the final message is the most important…