Book! Book! Book!

Book! Book! Book!

by Deborah Bruss

illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke

2001

04-439-13525-7

What happens when summer vacation on the farm ends and all the children go back to school?  The barnyard animals have nothing to do and no one to play with.  Oh no!  So a horse, a cow, a goat, and a pig, among others, follow a hen down the road to find some fun.  At the local library, the animals take turns asking for something fun to do, but the librarian is confused by the strange requests.  That is, until the last animal makes it all clear.

The artwork is vert cute, painted in broad watercolors that are delightful to the eyes. The story is easy to follow and takes place in the storybook world where a horse can walk into a library and nobody thinks it strange. 

The text is short and this book is great for ages 3 & up. 

Bully

Bully
by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
2013
978-1-59643-630-5

A bull in a bullpen is being a bully to other bulls and smaller animals like chickens, rabbits, and pigs.  When another animal steps up and calls him a bully, he realizes the error of his ways and begins acting nicely towards others.

A very simplistic story, the title character has an abrupt change after the goat calls him "bully".  But no accompanying text or illustrations explains what is going on in the bull's mind.  Why is it bad to be a bully?  How does it feel to be called a bully?  It's not very well explained.  At least the change comes from the identification of the problem.  If this book teaches one thing: it's that a bully should be told when they are acting like one.