The Big Heart

Jami van Haaften is a professional librarian and author of An Index to
Selected Canadian Provincial Government Publications for Librarians,
Teachers and Booksellers.

Many young children remember their first day at a new school and the
friends they miss from their old school. The Big Heart looks at this
experience when it happens to an adult—a teacher moving to a new
school, a new job, and a new principal.

A big, heart-shaped balloon serves as a common thread, a link between
the friends she is leaving behind and the new friends she will make at
the next school. It escapes from her hand and floats away, to land
eventually in the yard of a young boy worried about his first day of
school.

He carries the balloon to school, and meets the new principal. Young
readers will enjoy the vivid pictures and simple text printed in large
type in this oversized book. Cat-lovers will enjoy looking for the white
kitty with a heart on his collar as they follow the heart-shaped balloon
from page to page.

This work represents Trottier’s first work as author and illustrator.
Together with co-author McDowell, she blends a number of familiar
childhood concerns and presents a comforting outcome.