I don't remember much about this book, but I put a star next to it. I think I liked it because it shows kids that no matter how hurtful people can be to you, you should always stand tall. Kids can always learn from that lesson so I think I would read this book to my class.

Super cute book about a girl who is short. Her grandma had told her, "Walk proudly as you can and the world will look up to you."

She followed that message for her buck teeth, her voice, and fumble fingers. She moved and had to prove it to all the new kids and it worked!

This was my favorite picturebook as a little girl, and in a lot of ways, I feel like it has influenced who I am as a person.

Molly Lou Melon is a little girl with a big personality. She has wild, messy hair, big, blue eyes, and teeth that she can stack pennies on. Her journey from home with her grandmother where she is encouraged to be completely herself in all the bright exuberance that entails, into a new school in a new town where a bully named Ronald Durkin tries to make her feel small and strange is one that has always been incredibly dear to my heart. Approaching this text from an analytical perspective as an adult in library school is difficult because of my emotional attachment to the story, but I am trying to be as objective as possible.

The bright colors and whimsical, almost expressionistic style of David Catrow’s illustrations really meld well with Lovell’s story. Watercolor was a good choice for this reason, the bleed of the colors one into the other creates a sense of reckless confidence for the reader. I would love to own prints of some of the full page spreads in this book to hang up on my bedroom walls.

Lovell employs a fun structure for the majority of this book, shifting from a page with a long, descriptive paragraph to the next with a one-sentence follow up. Where this book loses as star for me is the discontinuation of that structure about halfway through the book. This may be due to the need to keep within a certain number of pages, but it feels doable, if only for the sake of consistency for the young reader.

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon written by Patty Lovell and illustrated by David Catrow is one of my favorite children’s books. Molly Lou Melon is a small young girl who moves and is bullied by a larger boy in her new class but with some inspiration from her grandmother, she is able to befriend him. This book can be used to aid dialogue on bullying and help children to gain confidence in themselves.