Up High - by Matt Hunt (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A walk down busy city streets can feel scary when you're small, but the world doesn't seem so frightening when you're perched up high on Dad's shoulders!"

Book Synopsis

A walk down busy city streets can feel scary when you're small, but the world doesn't seem so frightening when you're perched up high on Dad's shoulders!

Going up high on Dad's shoulders is the best way to feel BIG in cities that make you feel small. This tender, funny celebration of the bond between father and child will resonate with children and adults alike.

Join one child and their father for a stroll through their neighborhood as they spot lots of wonderful things-big and small-along the way.

A Kids' Indie Next List Pick

Named a Notable Book by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)

Review Quotes

A blond-haired child narrates their weekly Sunday trip into town with Dad. Hunt follows the child's point of view throughout the story, leading to some dynamic perspectives in the book's double-page-spread illustrations.
For instance, the pair walks hand in hand until the busyness of town makes the child "feel really small," dramatically conveyed in the art by imposing, elongated adult figures towering above them. The narrator's request "to go up high" is followed by a wordless closeup of Dad-with his scruffy beard and big,
tattooed arms- settling the child on his shoulders. This elevated viewpoint brings the exciting sensation of feeling big, tall, and able to fly. The duo strolls through a quiet park and then pauses for lunch, and the child, now down from their perch, notices animals: "little things. Tiny things. Things that make me feel like a giant." A new take on size leads to appreciation of and confidence in who they are (à la the young protagonist in Crews's Im Not Small, rev. 3/22). Hunt's brightly colored illustrations, full of expressive lines and textures, reflect the child's positive experience. Equally affirming is the love and care on display between father and child-even when interests temporarily diverge (e.g., Dad talks too long to someone, looks at boring hardware).
A sweet hug ends this satisfying outing.

--Cynthia K. Ritter, The Horn Book Magazine

Seeking security and a better view of the city while walking through a busy street, a little boy asks his dad to lift him onto his shoulders, where the world that once felt so big and overwhelming suddenly transforms into an exciting and accessible wonder. When they arrive at their destination, however, he takes in the world below and beside him, and marvels at how he had felt so small, and now relates to a giant! Whether soaking in the world above or appreciating the small details below, this heartfelt book about a father and son takes the reader's experience to new heights. When making your list of books to check out at your local library, be sure to put this one up high! Special note: This book includes a QR code on the back where readers can click and listen to an audio reading of the book!
Tips for Using with Children
Fold a piece of paper in half and label the top half "up high" and the bottom half "down low." Independently or as a group, children can brainstorm, share, and draw things that they might see from each perspective. Following this activity, take a walk outdoors, and pause to look high and low to add to the list! Are there things that children and adults don't always notice day to day, that they see when pausing and taking time to look?
Tips for Using with Families
Pause for adults and children to reflect on times when they have felt small in a big place. This book is a quiet celebration of love and security. Adults can serve as readers, as well as listeners and learners, as children share their thoughts on what is happening in the story. While reading, adults can take time to pause and look up high, and down low with their child, asking what they see around them. This is a great opportunity to hear about the world through the eyes of a child.

--PA Center for the 2025 Book Baker's Dozen list

Size becomes delightfully relative when a father and child head out for their weekly city walk in this perspective-expanding picture book. During the outing, the child narrator's simple but detailed first-person observations tend toward the sensate as the pale-skinned pair venture out, first clasping hands ("His hand feels warm") and then with the child carried aloft on Dad's shoulders ("His hair feels tickly"). After the pair arrive at a park, the subject's point of view shifts amid observations of "Little things.// Tiny things.// Things that make me feel/ like a giant"-an effect that persists until Dad's embrace holds space for a nap. With inky lines and crisp collage effects, Hunt's vantage-shifting artwork provides a child's-eye view of the walk, both "up high" and down low. It's a gentle telling that models how, whether a child is feeling big or small, a father can help center with his support. Background figures are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 2-5. (May)

--Publishers Weekly

"Up High," written and illustrated by Matt Hunt, follows a boy and his dad on their weekly walk through a city to a leafy park. In Mr. Hunt's bright, slightly scribbly illustrations, the father has a contemporary look, with tattooed arms and a short beard. The boy is small and blond and, when overwhelmed by urban bustle, gets lifted onto his father's shoulders. "Suddenly I don't feel so small anymore," he tells us. "When I look up, I can see the whole sky. I stretch up as high as I can. I almost touch the clouds." At the park, the two find a bench and share a picnic lunch, and the boy realizes that in some respects he is bigger than he thought. A father's time and attention (and shoulders) give his child a boost in both stature and morale in this gentle story for readers ages 2-5.--Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal

"Hunt's brightly colored illustrations, full of expressive lines and textures, reflect the child's positive experience. Equally affirming is the love and care on display between father and child--even when interests temporarily diverge." --Cynthia K. Ritter, The Horn Book Magazine

A father's time and attention (and shoulders) give his child a boost in both stature and morale in this gentle story for readers ages 2-5.--Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal

Size becomes delightfully relative when a father and child head out for their weekly city walk in this perspective-expanding picture book.--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Matt Hunt was born in Redditch in Worcestershire, England, in 1988. Starting out as a fine artist, he graduated from the Birmingham School of Art, and from these roots, developed a love for children's illustration. Matt works in mixed media, utilizing paint, pens, crayons, and digital methods. He's influenced by old movies, classic illustration, cartoons, and books. He lives with his wife Hayley and two cats.