It can't have been the lot of very many short boys to have fallen in with a family of circus performers who change his self-image, but so it is with Sam Small. When Joe Juggles, Toots the human trumpet, and baby Piglet move in upstairs, Sam tells them his troubles. Because he is so little, the dinner ladies and older girls at school pet him and ruffle his curls, and the school bully calls him 'Samantha'. It all seems like magic when Toots tells him: 'When long becomes short, And small becomes tall, No one will trouble Amazing Sam Small'. In fact, the answer to the riddle is quite straightforward: Sam's curly hair is cut short, and he discovers a talent for acrobatics which literally makes him tall. Even the school bully is vanquished by Sam's new self assurance. The message is clear without being in the least didactic. Easy read; large print; black and white illustrations.