Writer Worton offers an excellent book for teachers, parents, therapists, and students.

I like that there were neither banalities nor pigeonholes. Alice is much as any child; she is anxious about the future, hoping to fit in and concerned about being different.

Barbara Worton’s Too Tall Alice with quirky artworks by Dom Rodi is an excellent book for classroom usage. Alice is TALL, maybe not T-Rex or Empire State Building tall and actually she is not even as tall as her Dad. In reality Alice is possibly four inches taller than the other eight year old girls at her school. She is tall enough to cause her to be the lone girl to stand in the back row with the boys during their school photograph. To be certain, Alice did wish she was four inches shorter. Fridays at Alice’s house is always neighbors night to come over for parent card games night, and the kids kid games night and pizza and chocolates, and chips and kids run all over the place, and when the kids got tired parents marched them home and put them to bed. Alice was already home so on Fridays she marched up the stairs to her room and into her super fluffy Ariel the mermaid bed. Friday was the night when parents made certain their kids were safe asleep before they came back to Alice’s house to play cards until late, late, late. It was one such Friday night when Alice who was trying very hard to be a princess unexpectedly sat up very straight in her soft fluffy bed and leaned toward the door to listen : ‘don’t worry, don’t worry,’ and her father’s voice said she’s going to be tall and thin, a string bean … and a whole bunch more. And her neighbor said, nothing wrong being tall and thin, look at those supermodels. Alice cried, she did not want to be a string bean, and she cried and cried and cried. Too Tall Alice might have been one more in an array of interesting "you are special" type book offerings meant for children who do not fit a mold for what a perfect 8-year-old may be. Jam-packed with inspirational text, heartening theme, ingenious comicality and charming, child pleasing visuals send the book to a very different place. I like that there were neither banalities nor pigeonholes. Alice is much as any child; she is anxious about the future, hoping to fit in and concerned about being different. Author Barbara Worton presents potentials for Alice, and all readers, to contemplate; possibilities focus on successful and taller persons in our society and on some who may or may not need height. Basketball players, class presidents, Olympic winners and supermodels are often tall while pals and educators, clinicians, thespians, everyday heroes, good friends, run the scope of tall to short. Alice cried herself to sleep in the book and when she did she commenced dreaming of a place where all the girls were tall, ceilings were tall and doors were tall. Some of the girls were basketball superstars and some were super models and one was even a show girl. These tall girls called Alice short stuff and helped her see about ten years into the future. And they assisted Alice toward understanding that she would have to find herself, but, there were so many different delightful things ahead for a nice willowy girl. She might be an Olympic gold medalist or a doctor or a teacher or …. And the list went on and on. When she woke up Alice was prepared; she could see herself having a very beautiful day. Over a career spanning many years nearly all of the children in my first grade classrooms were about the same size, now and then I found a very petite child, usually a little girl sitting on the rug before me. Those petite persons were easier for me to reassure regarding what the future might hold. I am one of those some people consider height challenged. But then again, the too tall child, especially if a girl, was the one I had less awareness for how to ease the apprehension that they actually were too tall harbored by a tall child. When I found Too Tall Alice on the shelf at the Fall Book Fair held in our school library I smiled my relief and knew I had found a useful tool. Holding up the book for the class to see our TALL first grader read the title and said, “that is a book for me. I am too tall”. I read the story many times that year, and our Alice borrowed it often to take home for evening reading. I do think it helped her overcome some of the hurdles she was experiencing. She has grown into a super young lady, still tall, but today contented and accepting that we are as we are and while nothing we do is really going to change how tall or short or whatever our physical self may be; we can expect life to hold many opportunities and joy for us all. Too Tall Alice got lots of reading and lots of going home that first year and continued during the years following my having a sweet Too Tall in my classroom. Happy to recommend for the target audience of primary to lower middle grade children, parents of children tall or not, therapists who may have a too tall, or too short child patient. =========================== Reviewed by Molly’s Reviews molly martin =========================== Amazon: Product Details Title: Too Tall Alice Author: Barbara Worton Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: Great Little Books, LLC; 1 edition (March 15, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 0979066115 ISBN-13: 978-0979066115 Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 10.2 x 0.6 inches Amazon: About the Author Barbara Worton has been published in national literary, consumer and business publications. Her story, London Calling was published in Memories Of John Lennon, Harper Collins. If I'm Talking, Why Aren't You Listening?, a play she co-wrote with Linda Dini Jenkins has been staged in New York City; Rutherford, NJ and Boston, MA. Available: Amazon