Bully

Starred review from April 29, 2013
Seeger (Green) uses boldly inked barnyard animals to tell her story about bullying, casting a bull in the title role. The trouble starts when the young bull is rejected by an older one: “Go away!” it shouts. The young bull is shaken, but he’s learned something—how to hurt others. When a rabbit, chicken, and turtle in the barnyard ask him to play, he grumps “No,” then hurls insults at them, names that are no more than the literal truth. “Chicken!” he yells at the chicken, who jumps in the air. “Slowpoke!” he shouts at the turtle. “You stink!” he screams at a skunk. The more he abuses the others, the larger he grows, his angry bluster feeding his self-importance. At last a goat speaks truth to power: “Bully!” the goat cries. “Bully?” the bull repeats to himself. All the inflated air blows out of him, and he tosses and tumbles across a spread like a balloon let loose. Tearfully, he makes peace. Seeger’s pages pop with action, and the lesson couldn’t be clearer. Ages 3–7. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.

June 15, 2013
Characteristically impeccable design distinguishes Seeger's latest, even as pacing risks its overall success. The cover's bold, red background emphasizes a brown bull's surly expression--he's seeing red emotionally as surely as readers see it behind him. But then, the frontispiece shows him looking downright cowed as a large, gray bull shouts, "GO AWAY!" Clearly pained, the brown bull roundly rejects a group of animals that invites him to play. Wordplay makes his cruel remarks pack a wallop: "CHICKEN!" he shouts at a hen; "SLOW POKE!" at a turtle; "PIG!" at, well, a pig. A bee and skunk feel his ire, too. Then, a goat evoking the bravery of the Billy Goats Gruff facing down the troll retorts, "BULLY!" "Bully?" the brown bull asks in a picture employing an effective direct gaze at readers. On the next spread, the bull is depicted multiple times, sent into a physical tailspin representing his emotional upheaval. He apologizes on the antepenultimate page, and then, over just two spreads, he invites the animals to play, and they accept. This resolution arrives a bit too quickly, and questions linger about the gray bull, bee, skunk and the heroic goat. Perhaps, then, this book is best a conversation starter about bullying rather than a fully developed story or commentary on this pressing social issue. (Picture book. 5-8)

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from July 1, 2013

PreS-Gr 2-On the cover, bold black lines on an angry tomato-red background depict the scowling title character. Seeger sets the emotional tone from the very start: this is one mean bull. Front endpapers offer a clue to his behavior as readers see a larger, adult bull shout, "Go away!" The rejected little guy hangs his head, and, as many real-life bullies do, turns his hurt into anger. When he comes upon a group of animals who want to play, he puffs himself up in a near-identical pose to his adult counterpart and shouts, "No!" He proceeds to insult them with literal names ("CHICKEN!" "PIG!") that lend a bit of levity and humor to an otherwise serious story. With each insult, the bull's bravado makes him larger and larger, filling and then expanding outside the frame of the pages. Children will recognize and respond to this powerful visual depiction of rage. By the time he yells "YOU STINK!" at the skunk, only his two giant front hooves and enormous snout are visible. When the bull is finally forced to confront what he has become, viewers see him deflate like an overinflated balloon and become small. Again, Seeger lightens the mood with this touch of cartoon whimsy. Spare text and simple drawings allow the antibullying message to come across clearly without being heavy-handed or didactic. The arc of the bull's experience engenders discussion and encourages the quest for satisfying solutions.-Kiera Parrott, Darien Library, CT

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2013
Preschool-G *Starred Review* After a big bull tells him to go away, a little bull looks hurt and dejected. When a friendly rabbit, chicken, and turtle ask him if he wants to play, to each smaller animal, he bellows his answer (NO!). He grows larger (CHICKEN!), and LARGER (SLOWPOKE!) with each name he calls. After seven name-calling episodes, he has grown so enormous that only his hoof fits in the picture book. The tables are turned when a goat yells BULLY! Bully? asks the bull, looking hurt and insecure. Suddenly deflated, he apologizes to his friends and asks, Wanna play? Bold black lines and flat colors define the images of the animals, which stand out against the textured, ivory-toned backgrounds. Delivered in speech balloons, the only text is terse dialogue delivered in a font that grows larger as the bull roars louder. His ego deflates in an amusing, cartoonlike scene, showing him spinning like a punctured balloon. Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the book is the consideration of the bully's point of view. Intelligently conceived and beautifully executed, this picture book is visually and verbally pared down to essentials, making it accessible to a wide age range. Yet for all its simplicity, this story opens up a number of complex issues for discussion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)