Sara O'Leary was kind enough to send me a copy of her picture-book, When I Was Small , which recounts a bedtime story told by Henry's mother to Henry. Henry asks what his mother's life was like when she was small, and she spins a series of delightful stories about her life as a child — "When I was small, my doll and I wore the same size shoes" — and finishes up with a kicker so sweet and unexpected that it nails me between the eyes every time I read it to my daughter: "When I was small, I couldn't wait to grow up. Because I knew one day I would have a small boy of my own…And I would tell him stories, because in stories we can be small together."
If you've ever spent a sweet time telling your kids stories about your childhood and reflecting with them on how the person you were became the person you are, and how the person you are is shaping the person they will be, then this book will likely move you as it has moved me. It's one of three "Henry" books that O'Leary's made with illustrator Julie Morstad, these being Where You Came From and When You Were Small.
