National Network for Equitable Library Service

In this touching, often humorous remembrance, Diana Daly introduces young readers to her smart, funny, and caring great aunties and uncles-six remarkable people who lived with skeletal dysplasia at a time when the condition was not well understood. Daly intertwines older family stories with her own memories to create fond portraits of little people who embraced life with joy, faith, and wit. Daly focuses on ability, rather than disability, and and reminds readers that a family is always richer when a place can be made for all of its members. Based on the play 'If a Place Could Be Made,' which Daly co-wrote with Anne Troake and Louise Moyes, A Wonderful Bignessis a celebration of family, inclusion, and great heartedness. The book features artwork by NL-born multimedia artist and animator Bruce Alcock.&nbsp&nbspKey Selling Points - Based on a well-received play, this book offers a gentle introduction to issues of ability and disability. It celebrates the otherly abled and encourages young readers to identify through shared experience. The book raises issues of family and inclusion. The author has an extensive background in theatre, which feeds the structure of the story. The illustrator has an acclaimed background in animation, multimedia art, and independent filmmaking, as well as design; one of his short films was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award.&nbsp&nbspA beautiful story of family love, illustrated with warmth and whimsy.&nbsp&nbspWith a candid and conversational writing style, Daly invites readers into this time and place, very poignantly capturing a sense of the community and of Daniel and Kitty's firm faith and convictions. There is a warm feeling of nostalgia throughout and a heartwarming recognition of the importance of acceptance and inclusion. Daly introduces these men and women by recounting anecdotes from each of their life stories. Alcock's loose, bold and thickly outlined illustrations, with their gentle washes of colour, provide their own joyfulness and perfectly capture the spirit of this bighearted tale.