Review of "Oh Little One, Who Will You Be?" by Sharon Varney

Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

The children are our future! It's true!

One of the wonders of being a new parent is imagining who and what that child could grow up to be. They could grow up to become a famous athlete, a star musician, a movie star, a successful baker, a scientist making groundbreaking discoveries, an engineer of impressive structures, or even the owner of a farm providing food for whole communities.

It's so encouraging and inspiring to think about this stuff!
It's enough to get a parent to wake up at 4 AM to soothe a child's nightmare or to put up with them making a kitchen-wide baking disaster (as we see on page 7). Well, that and basic maternal/paternal instincts.

Oh Little One, Who Will You Be? by Sharon Varney is a beautiful expression of the enormous potential that our children have. They have the potential to discover new things (in the case of the adventurer), make people laugh and bring joy to their lives (in the case of the budding comedian), tend to the sick and in need (in the case of the future nurse), or capture iconic and breathtaking moments (in the case of the emerging wildlife photographer).

We really appreciated how tender and warm this book is. Every page contains at least one (usually more) smiling characters. Every page contains something positive, encouraging, and inspirational from the teacher reading to the children to the father and son playing musical instruments together.

The positivity of this book is contagious in the best way!

It also needs to be said that this book is illustrated by Anthony Richichi, our 2023 Artist of the Year!
Richichi effectively captures a lot of action on every page like the many animals who pop up for the photographer or the kids at the park playing a variety of sports. One of our favorite illustrations in this book is of the family of scientists and their budding little lab partner. Images of test tubes are transluscent in the background as if giving us a picture of what the little girl must be thinking about.

This book reads like a love letter from today to tomorrow, a parent whispering possibilities into a child’s ear. It is a gentle promise that who you will be starts with who you are loved by, right now. A keepsake bedtime question becomes a lifelong conversation: Who will you be?

Check it out on Amazon!