In "Small People - Big Brains" the author shares some of his experiences with kids over the past decade as a volunteer and, most recently, substitute elementary school teacher. Many of these short stories will make you laugh. Some will make you cry. All will make you think. In the pages of this "collection of stories about simplicity, exploration and wonder," you'll meet a second grader who becomes quite certain Mr. Boomsma is ignorant of the basic facts of life. How the young student handles this delicate situation is a lesson it tact that many adults should learn. You'll also encounter a nine year old who thinks he's "an excellent reader and extremely smart " until he's forced to consider that being smart is about knowing what he doesn't know. The title of the book comes from an encounter with a young fellow who was firmly convinced that his difficulties at school were the result of his brain being too small. The stories, however, prove that these small people really do have big brains. They just haven't discovered and fully learned how to use them yet. The author shares his first story in the preface. It's about fourth graders reading a story together until the teacher stopped them and asked them to guess the ending. (The story was about a mouse that was unhappy that he was receiving less attention since the birth of his baby brother.) The students were sharing their guesses and one fellow suggested either the mouse or his brother might disappear thanks to the family cat. His classmate used that you've-got-to-be-kidding tone when she said, "It's a children's book I doubt that anyone's going to get eaten." While this isn't a children's book, no one gets eaten. But the author's hope for you is that you do get entertained and challenged. He's also betting by the end of the book you'll find your brain is bigger than you realized.