Written by Dan Gutman, Illustrated by Tim Bowers
I liked how Gutman puts spelling words to a rap-like rhythm, but that was about it. As a librarian, I look for books about starting school for the teachers to read to the Kindergartners. This one has little to do with starting school and I was very disappointed by the end. One of the students, Chris, is bigger than the others and laughs at a few kids. The teacher never addresses it until the end of the school day, when she announces that it’s not nice to make fun of others and makes Chris stay after school for bullying. Not being nice is not the same as bullying. Bullying means targeting another person and purposefully harming that person more than once. This was the first day of school. Though Chris wasn’t nice two times, he wasn’t bullying and he might have been reacting poorly due to his own concerns about being different. The story should have focused on friendship and not ended with a lame, incorrect statement on bullying. Sadly disappointing.
Review by Teresa Edmunds, Westbrook Elementary Media Center
Rating: ★★✩✩✩ (2 stars)
Interest Level: Grades K-1
Rappy Goes to School
Written by Dan Gutman, Illustrated by Tim Bowers
Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
30 pages
Release Date: June 21, 2016
A review copy was provided by the publisher.
Thanks for your review.
Good to know that it may be a smart move to pass on this book. Thanks for the honest review.