Me Too!

By Stella Williams Nathan

Illustrated by Jessica Zemsky

1962

This is a sweet little picture book about Annie, who is not quite two, and big sister Rhoda who is a whole three years old.  Annie wants to do everything big sister Rhoda does.  When Rhoda drinks milk from her very own cup, Annie wants to do it too.  But poor Annie ends up with milk all over herself and the table.  When Rhoda dances and twirls to some pretty music, Annie tries it too.  But alas, poor Annie ends up sprawled on the floor.  Fortunately, Rhoda is a helpful big sister, and when Annie can’t reach the pedals on the tricycle, she gets a nice gentle push from her sister.

I loved this book as a very young child.  I know this because when I was recently reunited with it after about forty years, I still remembered the illustrations clearly.  

I don’t recall ever feeling like Annie.  Perhaps I either didn’t care if I kept up with my older siblings, or I was too overwhelmed by their skills and abilities to try! 

What this book reminds me of is when my friend Karen and I were in grade school and one of our favorite after-school games was playing high school.  Basically, what playing high school consisted of was carrying stacks of heavy books around while pretending to move from one class to another.  Something told us that high school was going to be better than grade school, so we couldn’t wait to get there.  

Lesson for today:  Don’t try to grow up too fast – or don’t let your children grow up too fast.  Enjoy today for the gift that it is.  Tomorrow will come soon enough.