Tuesday, December 10, 2013

2 Books about Bullies for little ones - Woolie and the Bully and Piggy Pug Stops a Bully


Woolie and the Bully  
Mark Jay Bingham (author) and Margo Anhder Mark (Illustrator)
Abbott Press - 2013

This important story targeted at educating very young school age children. Woolie is an adorable white lamb who is brought to school, by little Mary for show and tell.  Woolie is on his best behavior in school and most of the children are impressed by how well behaved Woolie is. Most everyone is friendly and kind to Woolie. One student, Tommy Hupp, the class bully, chooses to pull a prank which causes pain and embarrassment to Woolie.

When the school bully plans another mean spirited attack, he ends up getting hurt instead.  The other students, instead of chiding or making fun of Tommy, rally to his side showing concern and empathy. They make him feel part of the group.

I loved this book; it was so well done.  It demonstrated the emotional pain and embarrassment that Tommy inflicted.  It was also great to see that the other children did not turn against him when he was hurt.  The book is 45 pages, which is long for a book targeted at young children, yet it didn’t seem long at all. The story is told tastefully in rhyme fashion with wonderful entertaining illustrations. The font is attractive and bold.  One minor issue that I had was the choice of one the teacher’s names, “Mrs. Lillywhite.”  In an age when we are trying to encourage diversity, I felt that the choice made for the teacher’s name wasn’t appropriate.
4.5/5 stars (library copy)

 Piggy Pug Stops a Bully 
 Eva Gatlin (author) and Jimmy Gatlin (illustrator)
  Xlibris - 2012

The “bully” in this story is Sam the Ram. One day Piggy Pug can't find any friends outside to play with. It seem all of his friends are hiding because of Sam the Ram terrorizing the other animals.  Freddie the Fox, Gus the Goat, Buzzy Bee, Duster Dog, Tooble Turtle and Cathy Cow are scared and sick and tired of being tormented by Sam the Ram, and they've come up with an idea.   They enlist the help of Smitty Skunk to give Sam the Ram a taste of his own medicine – Smitty gives him a “squirt” and he is left on his own to deal with it.

Piggy then steps in to try and make Gus understand that acting like a bully and hurting others is not cool and not the way to make friends.

This book too is targeted at very young children. The font is larger, the colors bolder, but the illustrations are still wonderful. The story is still told in a fun rhyme pattern with the overall theme of teaching children about kindness and appropriate behavior.  At the end of the book there are (2) exercises that seem great and appropriate for classroom participation. They are: Being a Bully is Not Cool and The Friendship Game.
4.5/5 stars (library copy)
Both of these books would be a great teaching tool in the classroom.

5 comments:

  1. Glad there are children's books out there on this topic.

    Harvee
    Book Dilettante

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  2. Two wonderful books that I would buy for any child. It's a topic that has been so much in the news lately and the earlier we can get the message across that bullying is just plain wrong, the better.

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  3. Definitely a timely topic to deal with. Thanks for sharing this wonderful book for young readers, Diane. Sounds refreshing and interesting.

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  4. I'm glad that this is being addressed by authors. Wonderful review, Diane!

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  5. These are both going on Gage's list. That ram on the second cover is creepy looking!

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