Little People, Big Dreams Elton John is non-fiction kids want to read

Little Golden Books are incredibly well known and every adult that I mention the books to has a fond impression of them. For example, I still have one of my Little Golden Books from when I was a kid. The only caveat I would add to the way that adults view those books is that they want to want to remember them. In reality for young readers, the reading level for those books are too advanced and the packaging for them is too young. It’s a read-along book for readers that should be reading on their own.

Little People Big Dreams is a book series from Frances Lincoln, an imprint of Quarto Knows. It does a much more effective job at presenting content on a level that readers in elementary school will be attracted to, won’t be intimidated by, as well as, presenting a wide range of real-life people from every background imaginable. A case in point is Little People, Big Dreams Elton John, which is the 50th book in this series. It tells Elton John’s life story from a wide-angle about his early talent, stage presence, struggles, inspiration, and the reasons that he had to become a better person.

The text by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara is written in simple sentences for the most part and complemented with bright, colorful illustrations by Sophie Beer.  Anyone’s life story is complex and any snippet of their life could have too much, or too little time shown to it. This is especially true in a children’s book when the target audience’s attention span is much shorter.

Elton John, just like the other Little People, Big Dreams books that we’ve read, nails the pacing and storytelling of introducing famous people to new, younger audiences. If you didn’t know anything about Elton John and read the book you’d have a very good understanding of what made his musically formative years so interesting.

Essentially, as a young man, he went to an audition that a local record company was having. He didn’t do too well but did meet someone there named Bernie who could write great lyrics. Elton took those lyrics home and the magic started to happen. It was two parts of a puzzle that didn’t know they needed one another.

The two started out writing songs for other people. After two years a young Reginald Kenneth changed his name to Elton John and tweaked his style. The two crafted a song one morning over breakfast called Your Song, and the rocket to worldwide piano domination was on the way.

Elton John ends with a more detailed look at his life that older readers will enjoy. Those two pages also have a couple of photographs of him during some of his iconic phases. I’m writing whilst in a fifth-grade classroom and some of the students are reading equally-as-awesome, Who Was series of books. For middle elementary through middle school that book series is great at introducing new people or things who have made advancements in entertainment, leadership, or history.

The Little People, Big Dreams series and this Elton John book is as effective because it aims for the emerging reader and solidly entertains them. Each past has three sentences at the maximum that are accompanied by corner to corner art that’ll grab the reader’s attention. Those younger readers will need some read-along help, but because the sentences are so short they won’t mind. Some parents might see these books as merely a hipster version of their childhood classics. However, when they sit down and spend time with Little People, Big Dreams they’ll discover it’s much more than that and a series that they’ll want to introduce to their children.

Little People Big Dreams Elton Jon is by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara with illustrations by Sophie Beer and available on Frances Lincoln Children’s Books.

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