The Tallest of Smalls by Max Lucado

The Tallest of Smalls is Max Lucado's newest book for children. The story is about Ollie, a boy living in Stiltsville. He longs to be part of the cool group in his town, those that walk around on stilts. Each evening, the people in town that have stilts choose another person to be part of their group. Ollie begs to be chosen each time, and finally he is the one to be given a pair of stilts. Thrilled by being chosen, Ollie gets up on the stilts but doesn't remain happy very long. Stilts are not all he thought that they would be or even wanted. Ollie realizes that he can be happy even without stilts. I would think school age children would enjoy this book best.
The story has a great lesson for children, though it seemed a bit simplistic. The picture book is written in rhyme, and at times it could be hard for young children to follow. Despite it being a picture book, I would think some preschoolers would have a difficult time because of the way it is written. The illustrations by Maria Monescillo are well done and definitely enhance the story. I have read several of Lucado's children's books and I would compare the story line to that of You Are Special, though it doesn't have the same feel as you read it.