Review Detail

'When I Grow Up' by Tim Minchin, and illustrated by Steve Antony, is a fanciful story about the excitement of considering what to be as a grown-up. It not only considers more academically-oriented ideas such as being smart enough to answer all types of questions, but also the more innocent and endearing thoughts of kids who say and think the darndest things, such as being able to eat sweets all of the time, while going to bed as late as one would like. The perspective is endearing, in that it truly shows how children think and what they consider to be the most important aspects of childhood that will clearly pave the way to adulthood.

It would have been nice to see more of the types of careers kids want to be when they grow up, since a lot of kids tend to say they want to be firefighters or teachers or gymnasts, for example. These are all also the thoughts of children, so even a slight focus on each of these ideas, from the same perspective of being a child and how childhood injects more fun into careers, would have been nice. However, the premise of 'When I Grow Up' will resonate with readers young and old, increasing nostalgia for one's youth and capturing the minds of those still in that age range.