The big cheese by John Jory. Illus. by Pete Oswald

The Big Cheese has hauled himself out of obscurity as a little whey. He has become impressive. His presence fills the room, his confidence makes heads turn and causes jaws to drop. And he will tell you all about it. His life is full of ‘me’ words, that is until he meets Wedge.

Wedge is the opposite of Big Cheese; he is quiet and introspective, while Big Cheese is loud and bold, so he took little notice of this newcomer, until the time came for the town’s Cheese-Cathlon. Needless to say Big Cheese had won this important competition many times and he had the trophies to show off.

But on the day, Wedge is there to compete, and compete he does, winning all the competitions usually won by Big Cheese.  At the end of the day, Big Cheese has  a melt down. All the different emotions rage over his face: anger, disappointment, jealousy and so on. Until he notices Wedge. He is not basking in the limelight as Big Cheese would have done. He is looking humble.

So begins a journey for big Cheese in learning that winning is not everything, that there is a life outside winning and losing, and by losing he will learn lots about himself and others. Participation is the goal, not winning.

Wonderful illustrations spread across each page, showing the different moods of Big Cheese as he finds his way from always winning to finding out that being involved is just as good. The emotions shown in Big Cheese’s face are priceless and all done with a small change of detail, but offering an emotion we can all identify with. Think about making a piece of cheese look happy or sad!

Kids will see Big Cheese for what he is and them realise the lesson he learns is just as valid for them all.

Themes: Winning and losing, Humility, Ego, Brashness, Friendship.

Fran Knight