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Bully ISBN: 9781783442133
Seeger, Laura Vaccaro
Published by Andersen Press, 2015
What a good idea to have a bull as a bully! He's rather a small bull, but big enough to be bullied by a bigger bull, and here begins the problem. After his experience, he is only too ready when his friends ask if he wants to play to shout 'No!' and to call them names. When he gets to the pig, he shouts 'Pig!' and he tells the skunk 'You stink!' The bee is told to 'Buzz off!', and it is only when the goat sees what is going on and shouts 'Bully' at the little bull, that he begins to see what he is doing. Contrite, he goes into a tailspin (literally) and comes out the other side willing to say sorry and mean it. With a minimum of text, this story depends very heavily on the pictures, which are outstanding. The background is a plain, straw-coloured pattern with a dimly painted fence, so the animals stand out and particularly the little bull whose size becomes bigger and bigger as he bullies his friends until he fills the double page. The animals are painted with broad black outline and bright colours - which also emphasises their shapes. The little bull is actually quite lovable, and though one may feel he learns his lesson rather more quickly than most bullies would, he does learn it, and child readers will too.
Age: 5+
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