I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This art in this book is great. Very colorful and fun pictures. The story is just okay though.

3.5 Stars: Our Big Little Place is a nice book to share with children about a different home. A young boy lives in an apartment, that feels too small to his parents. Being a child, it is just the right size for him. He loves looking out the windows at the world and sky. He can see far and wide. He likes that his friends are down the hall, and that his backyard is a park. He has lots to keep himself busy. With most children I know as well as those my grandchildren know living in houses, this was a refreshing change. This would be a great book for classrooms to share when teaching about various homes around the world as well as families. This is a biracial family which was also a delightful change. There is a lot to like about this story, but it didn't wow me. The illustrations were well done and complemented the story, but again, not wow worthy. Overall a nice book that I would recommend to schools and libraries.

This is an adorable children’s book about a boy who lives in an apartment.

The little boy in this story lives in an apartment building. His parents think their home is too small, but he has never known anything different so he loves it. Since he’s small, it is just the right size for him. He is able to use his imagination to turn their living room into different things, like a pirate ship.

It was so cute to see this home from the boy’s perspective. He saw things differently from his parents. While they wanted more space, he liked that his friends lived down the hall and he had a whole park as his backyard. I loved that he lived in an apartment because most children’s books show kids who live in houses, even though many children live in apartments.

I really enjoyed this book!

Thank you Annick Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

*received this from netgalley for honest review* Cute story of a kids view of life in an apartment, would be good for bedtime.

Author James Conan's debut is a wonderful, lovingly illustrated picture book aimed at what you can do with a little effort and a big imagination. It focuses on an unnamed, biracial pre-school-aged boy who lives in a high-rise apartment in a big city, where his parents often comment on how small their apartment is, even as their young son disagrees. Though the balcony views of not just the world around him but the buildings and apartments of his friends nearby are enough for our boy to dream, he also recounts for us readers the various games he plays in the apartment, as well as outside in the yard between the buildings with his many friends (even to relay-racing in the halls outside his actual apartment), that prove his "big" his world really is. Drawing Aunt Elizabeth, who watches him by day as his parents work, or his parents into his games around the house only opens the door to even more adventure, especially on days when it's raining outside and outdoor play isn't practical. Each page of Our Big Little Place is crowded with the young boy's games and imagination, sure to catch the attention and awe of any child exploring the book, and - even more importantly - the diversity represented in this novel, from the boy's interracial parents to one of his friends who gets around via wheelchair to a female-female couple (and other mixed-race pairings) representing the neighbors who gather in the play area outdoors to watch the kid or their dogs, is not only uplifting but also makes for the one picture book I've ever seen to depict the real world of the child protagonist of the story the way it would be/should be, in reality. Charming and colorful, it's the kind of picture book kids (especially "city kids") will come back to again and again, fueling their own imaginations while also preparing them for the fact that people come in all shapes, colors, sizes and lifestyles - but we're still all just people in the end, everyone a potential friend. 4/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

It would be a very cute book for children living in an apartment. The main character, a little boy, has a huge imagination! He makes up all sorts of worlds to play on with his aunt and his parents. At the beginning the little boy hears his parents say that their home is very small - the rest of the book is essentially the little boy proving it’s not “small” at all. The illustrations in this book are incredible and very captivating.

Young city apartment dwellers will probably relate to this. Tiny apartments can feel the right size to small children, but adults know those tiny apartments only get tinier as small children turn in to young adults! It must be fun to live in a big city tho! I liked this book, and enjoyed the illustrations! Make a nice gift for a young apartment dweller.

I enjoyed the illustrations, but the story itself was lacking. I liked the idea of a story set in a small apartment, and I liked seeing the little boy use his imagination, but it was kind of long considering how little story there actually was.

Really sweet little book with good racial diversity in main and background characters and (unusual still for picture books) urban setting. Good for a home-themed storytime. I received a free e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was lackluster and dull. The characters were supposed to be relatable to a child living in a small apartment in a large city. But, there was no plot nor any excitement.

Cute illustrations and nice story about the power of imaginative play. I read it to my 5 year old daughter and 2 year old granddaughter and both girls loved it all the way to the end. Then they asked me to read it again. They loved looking for the cat who seemed to be their favorite. They laughed alot throughout the book.The author really did a great job! We hope to read more from this author. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC and the opportunity to read this book. My review is honest, unbiased, and voluntary.

The book has lovely pictures, and shows that the child int he story has a very active imagination, but I'm not sure what the whole point of the story is.
<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/small-house2.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5282" />

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/small-house.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5281" />

The child is bored and wants to play, and disrupts the lives of everyone one else around him, because of it.

What the size of the apartment has to do with any of this is unclear. The child has his own bedroom, with a window, so it can't be that small.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Our Big Little Place didn't really resonate with me. I feel as though it had potential for talking about big and small within the context of a big city and small apartment, but the book seemed somewhat unconnected and not really making a point or serving a great purpose. With some refining it could be a much better book.

This picture book has engaging illustrations that reflect the life and imagination of the child who lives in this apartment block. Children can look for the cat in many of the pictures; s/he is a charming addition to the story.

Lots of children live in houses, while many like our narrator, live in apartments. This little boy shows what fun it can be to have lots of neighbors, playgrounds and hallways to race in. There are also times when his parents think the apartment is too small and when he needs to use his imagination within the less than expansive space.

Our Big Little Place shows readers that a home is what one makes of it. If you live with those you love and who are attentive to you, whether you live in a mansion or an apartment, there is no place like home.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Yikes. I made the mistake of looking at other reviews before I wrote my own review. It dampened my mood after reading this delightful little book. *sigh* 

I thought the book was wonderful. I laughed out loud a few times. There was so much imagination and diversity. Also, Pixel the cat, as a side character, still managed to be a star. So many children grow up in apartments. There is literally nothing they can do about it but also there's nothing wrong with it, either. Children adapt and learn so much more than many give them credit for. When families let children use their imagination to the fullest, children flourish. I'm so glad this book promotes that. I'll be purchasing the finished copy of Our Big Little Place for my library. 📚💞 

***Thank you so much to Netgalley and Annick Press for providing me with a review copy.***

This story is told through the eyes of a little imaginative boy that lives in a very small place with his mom and dad. His backyard is a space between the high-rise buildings. He and his mom play basketball with a net that attaches to his bedroom door. They use a soft ball so nothing gets broken. His favourite game to play with his dad is hide and seek in the morning before dad leaves for work. To make it fair they must close the blinds and make the room dark because that makes it more challenging.

His parents think the place is too cramped but the little boy sees it in a totally different light. When he looks outside his window he is able see the whole city and when the sun has set he observes that the night is still bright and the lights only stop where the sky starts. He, his parents, and his Aunt Elizabeth play make-believe games together and if it is a rainy day he calls on his friends Lauren and Isaac to meet him in the hallway and they turn the hallway into a racetrack. They zoom back and forth causing some mayhem to the neighbours.


The illustrations are kid-friendly, full of activity, details and fun. The boy does not feel confined one bit. Because of his imaginative play, which involves his family and friends, he loves his small home and all that it has to offer. At a tender young age he knows that home is where the heart is and his heart is happy and content just where he lives. This is a wonderful debut book by the author.

ARC Copy...the illustrations were cute plus it was interesting to see how the imaginations of a young child coops-makes with being in a small space but same activities like messing up kitchen and racing in the hallways are very dubious as appropriate apartment behavior.

This book is basically a glorification of cramped apartment living, told from the point of view of a very small child. The parents are portrayed as wrong for wanting more space, simply because the kid doesn't see any need for it.

Well, a child this young wouldn't see anything wrong with a tiny space, even though it's so cramped that he gets bored, acts like a brat, and ruins the quality of life for his neighbours. I couldn't put my finger on how old this child was supposed to be. His voice in the narrative makes him seem like an older child... yet he still thinks it's appropriate to pull everything out of the fridge so he can mix the wet stuff and the dry stuff together to make "gross, goopy stuff".

The message of this book is confusing. On the one hand, the kid is telling us that small spaces are great. On the other, he's shown being a nuisance precisely because he's confined to a small space. Perhaps the message is simply that we have to make the best of whatever living arrangement we have, but I question how the parents are going to make that work when this hellion is a teenager, is no longer satisfied by making messes in the kitchen, and wants to play with a real basketball in the apartment.

While some people have no choice but to live in the city in an apartment, I would hope they would be better neighbours if they have to live in such close quarters with other people. Letting their kids race bikes up and down the hallways until they cause their neighbours to drop all their groceries as they're stepping out of the elevator isn't exactly a considerate thing to do. That kind of behaviour is what makes apartment living miserable for everyone else.

Our BIg Little Place is a book about a child who lives in an apartment building. While it was cute, the story was so specific to apartment living that it just wasn’t for me or my kids.

It was interesting to see the imagination required when living in a small space (using a community park or the hallway).