The Meanest Thing to Say

This is a great little book with a big lesson. A new kid comes to school and doesn't quite know how to make friends so he comes up with a game where the person who says the meanest thing wins. Little Bill's father teaches Little Bill that there is no point in saying mean things to one another. You should instead defuse the situation.

I was really surprised to see that this is an Oprah's Book Club pick, but after reading it and getting the message I now see how invaluable it is.

A great quick, easy read that helps children learn that there are different approaches to resolving conflict. This book involves a new student coming to school and he wants children to participate in his "new game." The game consists of students saying mean things to one another, and the meanest comment wins. The other students originally take part in the game but when Little Bill is preparing for the game at home, his parents help him come up with an alternative solution.
I think this would be a great book to read out loud to a class that may be having problems getting along with one another, a problem that is completely realistic. Little Bill's solution and the new friendship all of the students undergo is an experience that any show more teacher would enjoy in his or her classroom. show less

Summary of Book:
This story is about a boy named Michael Riley who introduces a new game to little Bill and his friends. They had twelve chances to say something mean to another child and whoever comes up with the meanest thing to say would be the winner. Little bill could not come up with mean things to say so he went home and told his parents about the game. His father taught him a strategy that would cause a big insult to the players. This strategy was asking "so?" every time someone said something mean to him. Little Bill used this strategy with his friends on the next game of basketball and he wins the game and they all become friends.

Personal Reaction:
I especially like this book because of my personal experience with kids. I love show more kids and they always have complaints about someone being mean to them. No matter how we try to encourage them to ignore these things, it does not seem to work. My son also complains about being bullied at school with mean words, I will try this on him as well. I like the illustrations because they were very suitable to the story setting. There was a game scene as well as the mean facial expressions when they were being mean to each other. I also like the ending where the facial reactions changed from mean and upset to happy and satisfying when they all became friends.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
This can be an excellent source of teaching morals or character building traits of humility and good behavior. Students can read this book and give their personal view on it. Students can be asked what they would have done in that similar situation. Another activity that can come out of this book is that the students write a word that can be used to combat mean things to say. I would encourage my kids to reply to insults by asking "so?" without a cute face. I would also encourage them not to use mean words and to combat such behavior with a serious face along with kind words. show less

Little Bill was at school and he was told that he shot a basketball like a girl by another student named Michael. They came up the solution to the problem by naming a million mean things to say to one another. In the end, Little Bill did not react to Michael's comments which made him aggravted. They were laughing about it after it was all said and done.

This book is really good for students at a younger age to demonstrate that you do not have to argue or even fight to solve any issues between others.

Little Bill and his friends are introduced to a new game by Michael Reilly. You get twelve chances to say something mean to another kid--and whoever comes up with the biggest insult is the winner, but little Bill dad help shows him the best way to win; to say So. This would a great book to read if a teacher wanted to discuss bullying. It was a pretty good book.

This is an excellent book to teach children how to deal with being bully in school and that saying mean things to people isn't nice and they don't have to act like that just to fit in. as extension discuss with the children how words can hurt people and how they will feel if someone said something mean to them and how would they react to it.

Bill learns to deal with a new student bullying in school by replying to the bully "so?" which angers the bully and eventually stops the bullying.