About Pesto Wants to Be Big!

Pesto the Mouse is the home of Pesto Wants to Be Big!, an illustrated children's picture book about a very small mouse who learns that he was enough all along.

What this is

This site is where families, teachers, and librarians can meet Pesto, learn how the book came to life, and find ideas for reading it together. Pesto is a petite mouse who needs extra help reaching things other mice grab easily. After one frustrating day, he tries plan after plan to grow bigger — and none of them work. It is his mother who reminds him that every mouse is different, and that being different is a good thing.

Who it is for

The book is written for children ages four and up and the grown-ups who read to them. It is meant to be read aloud — at bedtime, in a classroom circle, or on a library rug — and it opens gentle conversations about self-acceptance, confidence, and feeling small in a big world. Parents, early-childhood educators, school counselors, and anyone building a home library of kind, meaningful picture books will find something here.

Who makes it

Pesto Wants to Be Big! is written and illustrated by Willa Prawer, who first started doodling Pesto in the margins of her ninth-grade math notebook. The drawings grew into an independent study, then a finished manuscript, then a fully illustrated, published book. Today Willa is expanding the project by partnering with literacy organizations such as RIF and Bookworm Global to donate and share copies with young readers.