I love it when friends write books! I’d like to share one of my fave authors with you. She is called Maggie Mitchell. Her book is called The Big Stink.
“In the little blue house at 15 Maple Drive, lived the Family.” You know how ga ga I am about opening sentences, right? They can make or break a story. I love how you know the actual house number. When was the last time you read a book and they referred to the house number? You can guess how far down the street the house was or whether it was a corner lot or on the left or right side, etc. It’s details. And you know who lived there: Family.
But the book is not about Family. To be sure, family is involved in the story but not how you think. This is a tale of the critters who live on the property in the back yard. And there is some bullying going on.
Yeppers.
Hally, Danny, and Coco are friends. One day CoCo and Danny realize that Hally is a stink bug and they don’t want to play with her. It hurts Hally’s feelings. Mine too, actually.
But then, the family does something human like to potentially hurt Danny and CoCo and Hally swoops in to save the day! I don’t want to over dramatize the bullying but:
- We humans need to stop thinking that critters are here for our amusement and
- Just cuz someone is different doesn’t mean they’re bad.
I’m sure the latter message is the message that Mags wants the little ones to take away from the story. Don’t bully others just cuz they’re different. Different is good! Different is helpful! Stink bugs rule!
I will certainly never look at a stink bug the same again.
As long as they’re outside.
But seriously. This is a great way to teach anti bullying to the littles.