Tiny Worlds

Grandma’s house isn’t that big, but there’s always enough room for a tiny world. . . . An introverted child finds grandness in the small things around him in this heartfelt intergenerational story.

When a young boy visits his grandmother’s house, he doesn’t just see scraps of ribbon lying around, mushrooms clustered under a log in the forest, or shells hiding along the beach. He sees tiny worlds where pie tins become playgrounds, ants become farmers, and tide pools teem with life waiting to be explored. Tiny worlds are full of whimsy and imagination, but they have one problem: He seems to be the only one who sees them. While at first Grandma keeps trying to draw him out, to a busy park or the beach or the zoo, eventually she realizes that her grandson’s tiny worlds are big enough for her to meet him there. In her authorial debut, Brittany Cicchese offers a touching story and warm illustrations that celebrate the connection between a child and grandparent and encourage readers to appreciate the little things in life—and the sensitive souls who lead us to them.

Author Biography

Brittany Cicchese is an artist and writer with many years of experience working in public libraries. She illustrated Emily Jenkins’s The Kitten Story: A Mostly True Tale and Meg Medina’s No More Señora Mimí. Of this book, the first she has written, she says, “As a child, I often retreated to imaginary worlds when I felt overwhelmed, finding comfort in creating stories and building detailed playscapes. My fascination with tiny, secret worlds grew over time, and I loved seeing familiar, everyday objects in a completely new light . . . it was its own type of magic.” Apart from creating, she enjoys connecting people with stories, exploring the Rocky Mountains, and browsing every new picture book at her local library. Brittany Cicchese lives with her family in Denver.