Little Roo and his friends usually have a great time playing together, but not today. They are too busy making fun of each other. When everyone is left in bad moods, Little Roo's wise kangaroo mother comes up with an idea that might just help the threesome make amends.

good lessons, simple and fun language, fun story, fantastic art ( )

This was a book about three friends, a duck, a rabbit, and a mouse, who all decide to build a leaf pile together. They get distracted by competing with each other to see who can jump higher, grab their tail, or float. They all end up getting in a fight and forget about their leaf pile. Eventually the mother of the rabbit comes and settles things and they are all happy again. I would read this book in my class and teach a lesson on bullying. This book is appropriate for grades 1-3.

I enjoyed this book for many reasons.
I especially enjoyed the book because it challenges its readers to broaden their perspective on other's strengths/weaknesses. For example, the book begins with the kangaroo, duck, and field mouse laughing at each other because each is unable to perform certain tasks (the duck can't jump, the mouse can't float, the kangaroo can't catch his tail). However, they all become unhappy as they bully each other and instead decide to focus on and celebrate the tasks that they CAN perform (the duck CAN float, the kangaroo CAN jump, the mouse CAN catch his tail). I like that this challenges students to stop focusing on the things that they can't do (and the things that others can't do) but rather appreciate each other's individual talents and strengths. This book also illustrates that bullying others can harm friendships and hurt others very deeply. For example, the book reads: "No one was happy because each had made fun of someone else and someone else had made fun of them."
I also liked the book because of some of its textual features. For example, key words are a bigger font than the other words. The words "can" and "Yes I can" are always larger than the rest of the text. Key sentences such as, "No one likes to be laughed at," are larger as well. I appreciate these textual feature because it will make the important concepts of the book clear and prominent to the reader. They will see more clearly that "Yes I can," is an empowering and important statement. Additionally, the way some words are displayed gives clues to the reader about each word's meaning. For example, the letters in the word "floating" are spaced out and sit unevenly, as if they are floating. The words, "I can jump over a big, big log!" are curved as if they are jumping. I appreciate this textual feature because it will help young readers make sense of, and comprehend the text more successfully.
The main idea of this story is that we should never focus on our own weaknesses or on other's weaknesses, but instead celebrate our many strengths. When we do this, we can live peacefully and create lasting friendships with others. ( )

Great book about teasing and being nice to one another. ( )