If Big Can…I Can
Name of Book: If Big Can…. I Can
Author: Beth Shoshan
Illustrator: Petra Brown
Publisher: Parragon
Audience: Ages 3 and up
Summary: This is the story of a little koala bear and his friend, a large bear, and their adventures together. The little koala bear follows the large bear’s actions, but is very limited in what he can do because of his size. He then learns that there are things that he can do, but Big cannot do them because he is too big to participate. The little bear realizes that they can each do their own things, but they can do things together, too.
Literary elements at work in the story: The story is set in the outdoors and shows the relationship between a little bear and his friend a larger bear. It is told from the first person point of view of the little koala bear.
How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability make a difference to the story? The characters are perceived to be males. Ability is shown through physical size; each character has his own ability based upon his size.
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:3-4
Theology: We are called and gathered by God into one body, family or community called the Church of Jesus Christ. God creates the church and we live as part of it, in loving relationship with God and with each other. In response to this calling by God, we are to use our God-given gifts and abilities to feed, nurture and shape the way that we live our lives of faith each and every day. In doing so, we are carrying out the mission of the church in the world.
Faith Talk Questions:
- What did Little Bear learn in the story?
- Can he do the things that Big does? Can Big do the things that Little Bear does?
- Can we all do the same things? Did God make us to all do the same things?
- Can we use our different abilities and talents to serve God? What is one way you can?
Review prepared by Mason Todd, Union-PSCE in Charlotte
If Big Can…I Can by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
