Little People, Big dreams: John Lennon. Tekst: Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara. Illustraties: Octavia Bromell.

Woehoe! Een nieuwe schitterende parel aan de glanzende ketting van de Little People, Big dreams reeks!

Vegara slaagt er keer op keer in om ons te verblijden met het verhaal van een klein kindje met een grote droom. Een kind dat zal opgroeien tot een persoon die de wereld letterlijk en of figuurlijk mooier maakt. In dit geval de getalenteerde John Lennon, die veel te vroeg van ons werd afgenomen (Een feit dat onvermeld blijft in dit boekje, omdat het een verhaal voor kinderen is? Vreemd.)

Zoals steeds passen de illustraties wonderbaarlijk goed bij het verhaal. Want ja, in deze reeks treffen we telkens dezelfde schrijver (Vegara) maar elke keer een andere illustrator, in dit geval Bromell. Haar eenvoudige, kleurrijke stijl past helemaal bij de sfeer; mooi!

Als u deze reeks nog niet aan het sparen bent begin daar dan direct mee. Jong én oud zijn fan. Ik ben giga fan :) ( )

John Lennon gets his own time to shine in this marvellous non-fiction, children's series!

I still can't get enough of these. They are little books full of tidbits of wisdom. They have wonderful illustrations, magnificent facts and make learning fun. Honestly, I wish we had tons of these back in my childhood. These would be the best non-fiction counterpart to the giant collection of Mr. Men books that my library had.

If you haven't grabbed this series yet, Little People, BIG DREAMS by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara is one excellent series of non-fiction books. Each book introduces the readers to a famous person and retells the history of their lives.

John Lennon's story starts in Liverpool, long before he becomes the rock'n'roll star we all know him by. The Beatles is definitely one of the most famous bands out there, so it was about time John got his own story! Hopefully we get one for Paul, George and Ringo too!

I really liked this book. It was cute, fun to read and taught me more about John Lennon. I still highly recommend this series and will be grabbing every book that I can from it.

Four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. ( )

I picked this up at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame store on my most recent trip through Cleveland airport and thought it would be a fun addition to our Beatles bookcase.

For what adds up to just 15 paragraphs of text it’s provoked a lot of discussion. I get that by it’s very nature this type of introductory book for young kids simplifies and streamlines the narrative.

But in this case the combination of major omissions, factual errors, a few distortions, and blatant revisionism result in a book that distorts more than it simplifies.

I had been looking forward to sharing it with our grandkids, but it will be staying on the shelf. ( )

‘’We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections.’’
John Lennon

Liverpool, October 9th 1940. A boy is born as the world is thrown into the darkest pit of History. The Nazis are violating every corner of the planet and war has never shown an uglier, terrorizing face. But the boy of our story, John, will have nothing to do with war when he grows up, John will only sing for peace and unity. For understanding, hope and togetherness.

Along with Paul, George, and Ringo, John will initiate a revolution that will not be restricted to innovative sound and lyrics. They four Liverpudlians spread their wings and gave voice to the youth that craved to break the mould, to seek liberations from ages-old stereotypes and prejudices, and orders and empty papers.

When the time came for John, Paul, George and Ringo to follow separate paths, John spoke against the madness of the Vietnam War, one more page of shame in World History. He sang for freedom and peace, the peace we need to find within ourselves, the peace we need to share with each other. Some decided to cut him down, they decided he talked too much, he was a threat. But they failed. John became much more than a great musician. He became a legend, a symbol. He became one of those ‘’troublemakers’’ the world will always need…

‘’Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.’’
John Lennon

Many thanks to Francis Lincoln Children’s Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ ( )