Review by Vanessa Bedford Gill
Tundra Books (Penguin Random House), June 2022
40 pages, Hardcover, $24.99 ISBN 978-0735269347
Ages 3-7, Pre-K to 2
Picture Book
“My Lala Dots!” Lala shouted with glee.
“I’ll stick these red dots on whatever I see.
So, off I go, off I go, quick at a trot
to mark what is mine, ‘cause there’s nothing that’s not.”
As any harried parent or caregiver will tell you, stickers are perfect for rewarding and placating children’s behaviour. Didn’t cry at preschool today? You deserve a sticker! Ate all your broccoli? Take two! Whether they are used as a reward or to motivate behaviour, stickers are popular with young children and a boon for parents. In My Lala, a picture book by Governor General Award-winning author, Thomas King, stickers are used to denote possession. Not a terrible thing, especially when you have siblings or are forgetful. However, Lala uses them everywhere, and I mean everywhere.
Chua’s bold illustrations capture Lala in her bedroom, and children will delight in looking at all of her favourite things. Close-up images of the joy on Lala’s face on nearly every page capture her exuberance as she labels her world with red dots. Children will have fun interacting with this book while counting the salient red dots on each page. However, what starts off as innocently labelling a hairbrush and raincoat with red dots, turns into Lala wanting to possess everything within her reach. The end of the story offers little resolution to Lala’s demands, and would have held more meaning had she learned to share with a sibling or friend.
The first thing I noticed in My Lala was Lala’s white animal onesie. I felt nervous when I saw the protagonist wearing a similar outfit to Max in the classic picture book, Where the Wild Things Are. Familiar imagery can pay homage to a classic, but more often than not it is an attempt to forge a tenuous link with a classic story. Additionally, while the rhymes add a strong pace, a necessity when keeping up with Lala’s industrious spirit, they become slightly repetitive. There is a lot to like about Lala: a bold, confident girl with big ideas. But I was left wanting more. Lala’s high level of self-esteem seems wasted on meaningless dot applications, leaving the reader with a less-than-satisfying end.
My Lala is an energy-packed picture book for preschool and kindergarten children to explore more abstract concepts, like confidence-building, in an attention-grabbing tale. The red dot concept is great – it just loses its stickiness half-way through the book.
Vanessa Bedford Gill is a Librarian and pursuing her MA in Children’s Literature at UBC. She enjoys creative writing, travelling, and drinking copious amounts of tea while reading picture books to her four children, even though they tell her that they are far too old for this pastime!
YOUNG ADULTING 