I Want to Be

by Thylias Moss, Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator)

After some thought a young girl describes in poetic terms the kind of person she wants to be

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 6, 1993

About the author

Thylias Moss is a multiracial maker, an award-winning poet, recipient of a MacArthur "Genius" grant, and twice nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry.

Reviews

[What April's Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young girl is asked what she wants to be. She goes through all the thing in her head of what she would want to be. Very cute and imaginative.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me this is so upside down, it fails. The images are lovely, and the sentiment is, too -- but the voice is so resolutely adult and at odds with the art and the images, which both seem to be trying to show that these are the thoughts of a young-ish girl.

I would love to be able to use this to launch writing with kids, but even I am barely following these phrases: "I want to be old but not so old that Mars and Jupiter and redwoods seem young." I think to mimic them would feel wooden. And the range of desires (from wanting to be big to wanting sometimes to be invisible) is so vast -- and human! But it loses me. I never get the chance to connect with this speaker. The text begins and ends very accessibly -- and I love the risk of going wild and off the usual diction for young readers, and am sorry that it doesn't fly.

This reminds of "By Myself" by Eloise Greenfield -- which works because it holds a note of bravado, and gives it to us in a brief song.

[Rachel Doran · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great book. This book is about a little girl who starts off playing outside, she plays a game of what she wants to be when she grows up, she also talks about how she wants to feel, and how she wants be smart. In the end, she talks about how she wants to be everyone she knows, and how she admires everyone in she knows. It is a book talking about everything the girl wants to be. I believe that this book would be a great asset in a classroom. It shows that you are able to be anything/ anyone you want to be. It is good to have dreams and it is okay when they change. It allows students to use their imagination to think about what they would want to be when they grow up. This book could be used for first to probably third grade. While it is not very text heavy I think that those grades would benefit from this book more than other grades.

[Taylor Witges · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this poetry book, readers will learn the importance of passion, energy, and freedom. The poem's protagonist is an African American girl who has a strong imagination. The watercolor illustrations help build her characterization by showing how free-spirited and eager to adventure she is. This poem uses metaphors such as, "I want to be a sound, a whole orchestra with two bassoons and an army of cellos," to show who the main character wants to be. This book is written in free verse and conveys a strong message that will be sure to move any reader to an appreciation of Moss and her writings.

[Alexandria Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. It really went through different ideas of what the child wanted to become. I think this book would be good in the classroom if you are teaching a lesson on who you want to be.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit wordy, but can be good for children who feel pressure to decide. It's okay to want many different things.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book published in the 90’s that I found in our library, then found my own copy at a used bookstore. It is pure poetry, so lively, about a young girl who is trying to answer the question adults always ask, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I have used it as a way into writing, showing her poetic responses, so that students can write some kind of answer that opens up to any dream they would like to share. Here are the lines from one page as she walked home, thinking of her answer: “I double-dutched with strands of rainbows. Then I fastened the strands to my hair and my toes and became a fiddle that sunbeams played. Then I sang with the oxygen choir.” Later, when she is saying what she wants to be, Jerry Pinkney’s illustrations show the answers so beautifully along with the words. “Sometimes I want to be invisible, but not gone.” Here in a garden filled with flowers, she wears a dress with a flower print, that makes her “almost invisible”. Lovely book for creating!

[Margaret Boling · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/27/2011 ** One of two books that I read aloud to my fourth graders today on their last day of school. I love this book for beginnings and endings because Thylias Moss envisions so many things that the narrator wants to be - this is not about careers, but about feeling, imagining, and being. The reader has a sense of who one needs to be internally to achieve great things.

While I had a few snickers during the reading, most kids were introspective. A few also picked up on Moss's juxtapositions - that the narrator wanted many contradictory things. She wants it all and I want it all for my students.

[Cara Byrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

What does this little girl want to be when she grows up? So many things - including a language, small but not so small that she is easy to miss, and invisible but not gone. As she weaves through a beautiful garden path, she embraces and desires a future full of travel and empathy. She states: "I want to be all the people I know, then I want to know more people so I can be them too. Then they can all be me. I want to be a new kind of earthquake, rocking the world as if it's a baby in a cradle." The poetry is sound and dynamic, and Pinkney's illustrations are lush and colorful. It's a good day to read this book as Pinkney won the Laura Ingalls Wilder award today.

[Bethany Harnden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning illustrations illuminate the inner workings of a child's imagination as she answers that ubiquitous question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?". In poetry that plays with words in astounding ways, Thylias Moss shows us all that it's okay not to know the answer to that question, or to create your own answer that says you want to be and do everything!

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the poem in this book, but the illustrations aren't my favorite type. The story is great - I love the imagination, and Jerry Pinkney does a good job depicting what is going on. I feel, though, like his illustrations are overly busy for me and I have trouble focusing. Great story, though - I like the idea of being so many things and the way it might encourage children to dream!

[Tina Mcconkie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book attempts to answer the question - What do you want to be when you grow up? I like the voice of the girl as it shines through the pages as she discusses what she does and does not want to become. The artwork is beautiful and vibrant. It mms makes the pages hum with life.

[Hira · Rating 5 out of 5]

questioning

[Erroll Treslan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Strange.

[Shalana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book. Read it with my daughter and she loved it. The illustrations are amazing!

[Cori · Rating 4 out of 5]

illustrations are amazing. story is not as overwhelming but nice

[Kelly K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is pure poetry, from the metaphor-laden text by poet Thylias Moss to the gorgeous illustrations by the ever talented Jerry Pinkney. In the story, a girl thinks seriously about how to answer the question of what she wants to be when she grows up. Her response is something I believe we would all be wise to copy.

This book could be paired well with class study about figurative language, or a unit encouraging children to write their own poetry. It is also a pleasure to pour over the pictures and listen to the words again and again.

Besides adding a book with an African American narrator to a publishing field that is sorely lacking in diversity, Thylias Moss is raising the bar for poetry in picture books. I highly recommend this lovely book, brought about by a perfect collaboration between artist and author.