Caldecott Honor-winning author and illustrator Vera Brosgol’s new picture book, The Little Guys, charms with a story of a band of acorn-hatted creatures, a gang of inscrutable little guys who live on a small island. They may be small, but they live large. Tiny but strong, they are clever and fearless. Using their noggins, their numbers and their tight teamwork, they ford deep streams, cross dark forests, climb tall trees, lift heavy logs, dig deep burrows and even bounce on the belly of a big brown bear. They do this all to find food for the little guys. But one day, while hunting for their breakfast, they get carried away with their success and leave chaos in their wake.
Soon they have bullied all the residents of the forest and collected a tower of food. All the food is for them. There is nothing for anyone else. The little guys quite literally have everything—everything except one grape in the beak of a small red bird. When the little guys create a tower to grab it, the tower sways and they all tumble into the water. The little guys float along and finally climb out, but only with the help of the forest creatures whose food they’ve taken.
This incident wakes the little guys to the realization that they already have all they need. Together they are strong, they say, as they deliver the grape back to the small red bird. Brosgol’s story filled with bright, cartoonish illustrations will delight young readers and spur conversations about teamwork, greed and even the politics of power.
