An unnamed, intellectually curious child with a mop of hair is chased, teased, and ridiculed by a girl referred to as ¿Bully B.,¿ who ¿looks me up and down. Shoves my books. Calls me Weirdo.¿ Sookocheff illustrates the characters with simple strokes, giving them an indistinct appearance, which hints at the potential for any child to be bullied¿or perhaps be a bully. Pale tones are accented by pea green, light blue, and tangerine, signifying various emotional states. At the urging of the child¿s mother, the narrator responds to Bully B.¿s cruelty with an anecdote about interconnectedness and the universe. Their moment of shared awe and common humanity results in a subtle change: ¿What¿s Different Now: Not everything. But enough.¿ Hughes¿s suggestion that reaching out to bullies can be more effective than standing up to them is a brave and big-hearted one. Ages 4¿up. (Mar.)

An internal monologue recounts an episode of bullying.An unnamed, ungendered narrator is getting bullied at school. This school-aged child's inescapable nemesis is Bully B. A spare script with pointed headlines describes daily occurrences: "What Bully B. Does Today: Looks me up and down. Shoves my books. Calls me Weirdo. / What Her Friends Do: Laugh. / What Everyone Else Does: Nothing." However, the young protagonist is unsure of how to ask for help. "What I Say When Mom Asks How My Day at School Was: Fine." This trenchant storytelling style is immediate and arresting. The staccato words capture both the sting of harsh actions and the matter-of-fact resignation that bullied children often feel. Sookocheff's gray color palette with muted blues and greens intensifies the isolation. When the narrator does finally admit what is happening, Mom's response is refreshing. She gives a lot of discussion time to how Bully B. may be feeling and why. She offers adult intervention as an option, but she also suggests a way for the kids to work it out between themselves. Nothing is perfect; the two certainly don't end up being best friends, but an understanding is reached. The narrator is literally depicted as blue, and Bully B. as chartreuse, while the other children are colorless. Following the rapprochement, the two are revealed to have pale skin, while their classmates are revealed to be diverse.It's impossible to find a solution that will solve every bullying situation, but empathy is always a fine place to start. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The scientifically minded narrator (gender unspecified) is bullied until finally confiding in Mom. Mom's advice: help the bully "change her way of looking." A shared "wow" with the bully over astronomy changes their relationship, just enough. A creative, spare text ("What Bully B. Doesn't Call Me Anymore: Weirdo") with equally creative illustrations (the narrator is blue and the bully, green, until the bullying stops). (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

An elementary school girl is bullied by a female classmate who asks unanswerable questions, such as, Why are you so weird? The spare style of the digitally assembled acryl gouache illustrations and of the first-person narration convey to readers the bullied child's feelings of isolation and desolation. What Bully B. Does Today: Looks me up and down. Shoves my books. Calls me Weirdo. What Her Friends Do: Laugh. What Everyone Else Does: Nothing. How I Feel Sometimes: Bad. Really bad. Muted colors blue, green, gray, and tan depict the unhappiness of one child and the power of the bully. After finally telling a parent about the unbearable situation and receiving advice, the bullied child reaches out to the aggressor. Ending on a positive, though admittedly tentative note, the author leaves it up to readers to think about and, hopefully, discuss what happens next. This title is not a cure-all, but it offers a starting point for an important talk in either a family or a classroom setting.--Owen, Maryann Copyright 2018 Booklist

K-Gr 4- A bully is making a girl's life miserable and no one seems to care. "Why I Don't Want to Go to School Today: Bully B. What Her Friends Do: Laugh. What Everyone Else Does: Nothing." The bully often calls her a "weirdo" and shoves her. The narrator (who is not named) must find little bursts of happiness in her life at home with her mother and her dog, Sparky. But, she thinks, "everything would be better if Bully B. was on another star, far, far away." The girl's mother tries to explain why the bully acts the way she does and to empower her daughter to take charge of the situation. When the child decides to confront the bully on the playground, the result is something that neither one expects. VERDICT With spare illustrations, the focus is on the commanding prose that makes this a perfect read-aloud for Kindness Week. A powerful reminder to children that even if we seem completely different, we have enormous commonalities that bind us.-Amanda C. Buschmann, Carroll Elementary School, Houston © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.