Young Sam learns to deal with his anxiety after he visits a playground with a scary rope bridge.
Sam and the Big Bridge is my very first picture book!
I’m grateful to the talented Matt Gonya for bringing Sam, Derek, and their mother to life.
Details
Topics
family, parenting, emotions and feelings, anxiety, siblings
Pages
24
Age
4-7 years
“When it comes to writing for young people, Ulrich clearly knows her audience. In her first children’s picture book, Sam and the Big Bridge, the former teacher-turned-author delivers a short tale about two brothers, Sam and Derek, and her initial three words set the stage for the story: ‘Sam was anxious.’ Interestingly, Sam is the elder brother, and he’s concerned that his little brother might get hurt on the playground swing or monkey bars, or that he might leap into the swimming pool ‘without his waterwings,’ or even fail to check for cars when he crosses a street. Sam even worries in his dreams: his mother says she’s signed the boys up for ‘Ninja camp,’ and that night Sam ‘dreamed of Ninjas with glittering eyes.’
The book’s American illustrator, Matt Gonya, conveys Sam’s fearfulness via a strong use of colour and facial expressions. Gonya uses ‘gestural, digital illustrations’ that ‘are designed to look like ink and watercolour.’ The main character’s anxiety is particularly conspicuous when contrasted against the other children at camp, who are running, climbing and smiling.” – SaskBooks Review
Maureen Ulrich 