The Little Brute Family

Russell Hoban’s lovely little book is a big lesson in manners and treating each other well. At the start nobody says please or thank you and mother dishes up stews of sticks and stones for dinner every night. The family growl and grumble, snarling at each other all the time. One day Baby Brute brings a good feeling home that he has found lost in the forest and this transforms the whole family who end up being wonderfully happy when they start treating each other lovingly.

THE LITTLE BRUTE FAMILY by Russell Hoban is a cute little picture book that would be a good read for young children. The story is about a family of Brutes who never smile, are never grateful, and are never happy. Until one day when the youngest baby Brute is walking in a field and happens to find a "little wandering lost good feeling". He catches it in his paws and brings it home with him where the good feeling spreads over the rest of the family and decides to stay with them forever. Now the Brute family (renamed the Nice family) smiles often, always says "please" and "thank you", and is much happier. This story sends the message that you're more likely to be happy when you are cheerful and polite instead of angry all the time. And all show more it takes is a "little good feeling". The text is very easy to read and the plot is not over complicated; I would definitely suggest this story for beginning readers or young children - perhaps from preschool to first grade. I especially like the illustrations in this book. The expressions on each of the Brutes' faces adds a lot to the characters development and the emotions elicited in the text. Also, I'm not sure what type of creature the Brutes are supposed to be, but that seems to be the point and it makes the characters even more interesting. If I were to use this book in the classroom, I would have each student draw a picture of another type of family (i.e. the Silly family, the Sad family, the Cool family, etc.) with their own made-up creatures. show less

I thought this book was really cute and I enjoyed reading it. I liked the illustrations because they were very unique and detailed. You can tell that the illustrator worked really hard on portraying the feelings of the characters and the settings. Another reason I really liked this book is because of the message. The whole message of the story is to always be kind and use manners. I think that this book is perfect for a read aloud to younger kids.

This book is about a family of brutes who are unhappy about everything. One day, baby brute finds a good feeling and it spreads to his whole family. The family is then kind and nice, and they end up changing their name to the Nice family.

Members of the Brute family, who live on a diet of stick and stone stew, suddenly find their lives changed for the better.

Well, that was far more cheerful than expected.