Simon's Hook; A Story About Teases and Put-downs

Characters: main character Simon; the antagonist, Joey, Miguel and Nicole; and Grandma Rose
Settings: A suburban town and a park.
Theme: Family, life lesson, reality
Genre: Youth and young adult
Summary: Simon gets a bad hair cut from his sister. When he goes to the park, his friends tease and ridicule him. Simon gets sad from the teasing and goes to his grandma. After explaining the incidents to his grandmother Rose, she shows Simon ways to deal with being teased. The methods that she teaches him helps him face his friends and defend himself in a peaceful manner.
Audience: Youth –Young Adult
Curriculum ties: Developing social skills and behavior
Personal response: This was a very interesting book and a good way to introduce children to show more the concepts of teasing and bullying. The illustrations really does a good job of making the subject matter light instead of intense. It is important to have books such as these because they prime children for issues they have to deal with in the real world. The topic of teasing and bullying has became a problem in recent news. If there were more books out there that addressed these issue children would know how to cope, resists and defend themselves against teasing and putdowns. show less

Genre: Fiction
Media: Ink and Color Wash
Age Appropriateness: Primary - Intermediate
This book begins with a story about simon who is getting bullied. His Grandma sits him down to have a talk and explains about the hook. She describes what a hook is and tells the story using fish. This story provides practical examples to not "bite" on someone's "hook." This nook is fictional because it involves animals talking and it is not a true story.