Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Alley Oops by Janice Levy - OPTIONAL

Levy, Janice Alley Oops, illustrated by CB Decker.  PICTURE BOOK.  Flashlight Press, 2005.  $18. 9780972922548

J.J. Jax has been picking on the new boy Patrick at school.  When he gets home, his dad is mad at him and tells him a story of a boy that he used to pick on when he was in school.  J.J. After dinner J.J. finds Patrick and is first mad at him because he tattled, but the boys quickly start commiserating with each other and find a points of mutual interest.

The idea behind this book is great – looking at bullying from the eyes of the bully.  But, its short format leads to lots of questions and holes for me as an adult reader.   There is not enough space in a picture to cover all of the ground presented here and do it well.  It even steals the Cherokee proverb about having two wolves inside us without any kind of attribution anywhere! 

EL – OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher

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