The Day I Met Bigfoot: And Made a New Friend

K-Gr 2–“The day I met BigFoot was like any other./ The sun came up and showed a world to discover.” An unexpected encounter between a child and a big hairy beast turns into an unusual friendship. A child wakes up, ready to greet the day. He walks out into the woods, only to come across the biggest footprint he’s ever seen. Soon the owner of the footprint appears: it’s the legendary BigFoot. Despite his fear, the boy soon learns that BigFoot is a kind and solitary beast who lives in the woods, mostly afraid to show himself, saying “I’d rather be lonesome than misunderstood.” They shake hands, and a friendship is born. Pen and ink illustrations deftly capture the woodland scenery and the not-so-scary beast. There is nothing of the sensationalist beast-sighting stories here, just a quiet story of a boy seeing beyond the physical appearance of another creature to the kind heart within. The rhyming text is often awkward: “You are different, BigFoot, and that’s a fact./ I will be your friend, and that is just that.” The overall message of seeing beyond differences still comes through.