Hooway for Wodney Wat

Wodney suffers from a common problem - he says w instead of r. That in and of itself should have been okay, but he's shown being teased mercilessly by the other students. No adult notices and steps in, even when he's unable to speak up in class and either totally ostracized or - slightly better - so shy from this treatment that he avoids the other rodents entirely and never even pokes his head out of his jacket.

This is realistic enough - unfortunately - but that doesn't make it pleasant for me to read to my nieces.

When a new bully comes and bullies the rest of the class, they don't learn the moral lesson "Bullying people isn't fun". Instead, Wodney turns her ignorance of his disability against her. The children laugh at her, and she show more runs off. "And they lived happily ever after and never teased him again." Of course, if he hadn't been able to use his Special Skill to help him then the other students would have continued to tease him, right?

It's a very unsettling moral message, and not one I really like. show less

Due to a speech impediment, Rodney Rat is unable to pronounce the letter “r” when saying his words. This puts a target on his back, especially when Camilla Capybara comes into town and leads the class in humiliating Rodney. However, it turns out the one thing that makes Rodney the target in class is the thing that eventually beats Camilla, and makes him the class hero!

This book addresses students who are bullied for the way that they talk. Many students in schools all across the nation have speech impediments, and have trouble talking or saying certain words. This book would allow them to feel confident about themselves and see a book that they can relate to. It could be used to have discussions about speech impediments in show more classrooms, and teaching students that they are not any different from everyone else.

Modern Fantasy
Reading Level: 3.1 show less

Though I first became aware of ths book in college, it wasn't until recently that I had a chance to use in front of a group of kids. Boy, I was truly impressed with the results. Kids love Wodney. Camilla Capybara is just the sort of character that they love to root against. I really had a great time rooting for the underdog in this story. It reminds me of Lambert the Sheepish Lion (my favorite Disney cartoon of all time), or maybe large-eared Dumbo, or Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, or any number of other underappreciated characters from children's stories. Great book.

Picture / Graphic Novel - Understatement

This book is about Wodney Was who can't say his r's so he gets made fun of at school by Camilla. After Wodney's teacher demands that Wodney be Simon in Simon Says, he finds his voice and puts Camilla in her place.

I love this book because it teaches about standing up for yourself and how to find your own voice in a crowd. It also is a good book for students who might struggle with a speech impediment because it can show them that they're not so different from everyone else.

This is a wonderful story about a small rat named Rodney, who can't pronounce his r's correctly and sadly gets teased by his classmates for it. Rodney spends most of his day trying to hide in his coat, avoiding having to talk to anyone. Then, one day, Camilla Capybara shows up, she is the meanest, smartest, biggest rodent around. Wodney and everyone else in his class are terrified of Camilla. However, things turn around for Wodney Wat in an unexpected way. The illustrations are beautifully detailed, and depict the emotions so well. This story was perfect for my class this year, as I have a student who has trouble pronouncing some sounds. It was the perfect teaching tool, and started some great conversations around the sadness that show more teasing can cause. My class and I really enjoyed this book! show less

In my opinion this was a really great book for 3 reasons. First, was the development of the main character Rodney was a very believable character. The story introduced him to us in a way that made it easy to understand the issues and problems that he was having. He was a character that students with speech impediments could connect with. Second, was the way the book was written. Parts of the book were written in the way that Rodney, the main character, would talk. It gave a chance for students to see how a speech impediment would effect a student. The books also introduced the topic of bullying. As readers are reading along they see that the students are being bullied by Camilla, and by the end of the book Rodney is able to solve the show more schools bully problem by getting Camilla to leave the school. After reading i was thinking back on the story and realized that some may also consider Rodney and the other classmates to be bullies as well when Camilla was confused instead of helping her to understand Rodney's exceptionality they just made fun of her instead. The main idea that i got from this book was that there is greatness that can be found in everyone. show less

Poor Rodney Rat can't pronounce his R's and the other rodents tease him mercilessly. But when Camilla Capybara joins Rodney's class and announces that she is bigger, meaner, and smarter than any of the other rodents, everyone is afraid. It seems she really is bigger, meaner, and smarter than all of the rest of them. Until our unwitting hero, Wodney Wat, catches Camilla out in a game of Simon Says.
1 Book/CD