Back Off, Bully Boy! Llama Llama and the Bully Goat by Anna Dewdney

LLAMA LLAMA
LIKES TO SING.
GILROY LAUGHS
AT EVERYTHING.

LLAMA SINGS OUT
JUST THE SAME.
GILROY SAYS
A NOT-NICE NAME.

Llama Llama had his problems getting used to school, but now he likes everything about it--counting and painting, writing and making things, and especially circle time music with songs and clapping to the beat. Llama is in the school groove and everything is going just fine for him and his friend Nelly Gnu until Gilroy Goat joins the group.

In no uncertain terms Teacher tells Gilroy that name-calling is NOT allowed, and he backs off, but when recess rolls around and Llama and Nelly are busy in the sandbox making roads for  Fuzzy Llama and Gnu Doll, Gilroy horns in again, this time jeering at their toys and kicking up a sandstorm with his hooves.

GILROY THROWS
SOME SAND ON NELLY.
"HA HA! GNUS ARE
REALLY SMELLY."

This time Teacher is not at hand, but Llama knows how to handle a bully goat. He advances on Gilroy, looks him in the eye, and tells him to butt out. Then he and Nelly leave the bully standing in the sand all alone. Now who's the goat?

BEING BULLIED
IS NO FUN!
WALK AWAY...
AND TELL SOMEONE.

Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama has had his moments of misbehavior, but in her latest, Llama Llama and the Bully Goat (Viking, 2013), he steps up and makes Gilroy Goat pull in his horns. Dewdney's Llama Stories series combines engaging rhymes and evocative artwork in which body language and facial features help preschoolers interpret situations and see their own behavior as others see it, with adult figures who calmly moderate all that llama drama, leaving her characters to work out better ways to deal with their feelings.

As Kirkus Reviews puts it, "Her textured oil, colored-pencil and oil-pastel illustrations shine when portraying the animals' faces--joy, discomfort, surprise, anger, stubbornness, disappointment are all crystal-clear on them." This skill is a rare gift that has been displayed throughout Dewdney's series, beginning back in 2005 with her best-selling battle-of-bedtime story, Llama Llama Red Pajama. Other not-to-be-missed sequels are Llama Llama Mad at Mama, Llama Llama Misses Mama, Llama Llama Home with Mama, Llama Llama Time to Share, and that classic of the pre-Big Day meltdown, Llama Llama Holiday Drama.

A Daddy Day: Nelly Gnu and Daddy, Too! by Anna Dewdney

A GREAT BIG BOX, SOME TAPE AND STRING--

DADDY CAN MAKE ANYTHING!

Daddy Gnu is doing the day with his daughter, and does this dad know his Nelly!

As the story opens, there are two big and invitingly empty cardboard boxes in the living room, and Daddy Gnu knows just what to do with them to please his little girl.

Nelly Gnu is a crafty kid, and Daddy Gnu has just the project for the day--a playhouse just the right size for Nelly and her little Gnubie doll.

Nelly lays down the tape line and Daddy has her step aside while he wields the carpenter's saw.  Nelly watches until it is her turn to spread some glue. Finally the construction phase is finished, and Nelly inspects the interior.  It's perfect, but...

IT NEEDS SOME FLOWERS, JUST A FEW.

IT'S TIME TO SHOP WITH DADDY GNU.

It's off to the big box home improvement store, where Nelly rides high on Daddy's shoulders as they head toward the paints section.  There are so many colors that Nelly Gnu doesn't know what to do.  But then, she spots the perfect blue.

Daddy carries the bucket of paint and heads for the section with all the paint brushes. They are almost done, but then there's a near Gnu disaster! Nelly realizes that she's dropped her doll somewhere, and when she runs back toward the paint section to find it, she realizes that she can't see Daddy Gnu anywhere! There's a moment of panic!

Nelly Gnu rarely gets in a stew, but this is serious!

But Daddy Gnu is looking for her, too, and soon she feels his big, strong arms corral her in a big hug.

It's a great big whew! for Nelly Gnu, in Anna Dewdney's brand-new Nelly Gnu and Daddy Too (Viking Books, 2014), as the two Gnus head homeward, where Nelly can paint her playhouse with blue flowers and Daddy Gnu can paint the whole exterior in perfect brickwork. The paint dries while Daddy whips up dinner just in time for Mama Gnu to arrive with Baby Gnu to admire their work. The paint is dry by bedtime, and on this special night Daddy Gnu tucks Nelly and her doll into a special bed inside her new playhouse.

Nelly Gnu, introduced earlier in two of Dewdney's best-selling Llama Llama books, gets her first solo story in this latest entry. Dewdney's charming couplets tell the story with just the right rhyming words, and her strong saturated colors and soft, rounded characters make even hoofed animals endearing, with each story showing her preschoolers in a transitional moment. This new Gnu story is a great choice for Fathers Day reading.

Dewdney's two stories featuring Llama Llama's best friend Nelly are Llama Llama Time to Share and Llama Llama and the Bully Goat.

Bully to Buddy! The Pout-Pout Fish and the Bully-Bully Shark by Deborah Diesen

Deep in the ocean
On a warm summer day,
Bubbled lots of lovely laughter
And sounds of happy play.

It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood for Mr. Fish & Friends. Even Mr. Fish's pouty mouth is all smiles, and the small fry fish and their fellow crustaceans frolic in the waters of Tommy Tickle Park. In oceanic terms, all's well in the sea's swells.

But then a shadow literally passes over this perfect pelagic scene. It's a.... SHARK!

The shark showed his teeth,
And growled as he swam.
"Move aside, micro-fishes!
It's my turn! SCRAM!"

The small denizens of the deep dive down to the bottom. Flounder flaps until he is hidden in the sand. The rest swim for cover. No one wants to make trouble taking on Snaggletooth the Shark. Even Pout-Pout Mr. Fish suddenly feels puny.

After a gnarly pass over Tommy Tickle Park, the shark swims on, and the tiny small fry and spineless crustaceans begin to venture out again and start to play. But the little one ones scatter again when the shark glides by and taunts them:

"Fear the fin!"

But the third time Snagglepuss makes a pass, Mr. Fish  begins to feel his inner superhero beginning to blossom.  He rallies his comrades and faces the big fish down:

"Mr. Shark," said Mr. Fish,
"You have broken up our fun.
Bully isn't who you are,
But it is what you've DONE!"

Boys and girls, don't try this with a real shark at your beach, but Mr. Fish has a good point about facing up. If you can't overpower a bully, maybe you can co-opt him by appealing to his better self and fitting in with the group, and in Deborah Diesen's The Pout-Pout Fish and the Bully-Bully Shark (A Pout-Pout Fish Adventure) (Farrar, Strous and Giroux, 2017) shows her hero Pout-Pout Fish converting the shark to one of the gang, one who even follows the rules: 1) BE KIND! 2) BE FAIR! 3) IF YOU SEE SOMETHING WRONG, SPEAK UP! As always, Mr. Fish learns and returns a new lesson, but it is artist Dan Hanna's detailed and delicate deep-sea illustrations that are the seaside center of attention in this latest under-the-sea adventure.

Pair this one for preschoolers with Anna Dewdney's delightful take on taking on bullies and bullying in her Llama Llama and the Bully Goat. (Read my review here.)

Warts 'n' All: Thomas the Toadily Terrible Bully by Janice Levy

THOMAS WAS NEW IN TOWN. HE DRESSED TO IMPRESS.

HE STRUTTED HIS STUFF. HE GOT IN EVERYONE'S FACES.

Undoubtedly, Thomas is nattily attired, in his purple bowtie and dotted waistcoat, but it's hard to be a dapper dandy when nobody is impressed.

IF I CAN'T MAKE FRIENDS," HE THOUGHT, "I'LL BE A BULLY INSTEAD."

Thomas tries another tack at making an impression on his peers. He swaggers. He glowers. Although he tries to carry off being toadily tough, he can't even dominate poor wimpy little Gomer. Being bad to the bone is apparently way beyond Thomas' range.

But while Thomas is trying to intimidate Gomer, they both hear a bellow.

"RRRRRRRBIT!"

Now that's a BULLY!

He's bigger than big, and little Gomer begins to whimper.

"HE'S BEEN AFTER ME ALL DAY!"

Thomas may be toadily terrible as a bully, but he can think fast, and he uses his wits to trick this Truly Terrible Toad with one of the oldest ruses in the book, in Janice Levy's latest, Thomas the Toadilly Terrible Bully (Erdman Books, 2014). Illustrators Bill Storm and Esperanca Melo make the most of this turn-the-tables-on-the-bully storyline, using crackly toad-textured layers of paper and paint to provide plenty of eye-appeal to this toadish trickster tale, which leaves the real bully sputtering and toadily all wet and Thomas and Gomer bonding as toadily terrific friends. Pair this one with Anna Dewdney's best-selling Llama Llama and the Bully Goat (see review here) for an alternate take on taking care of a bully.