Beany and the Meany Written by Susan Wojciechowski and Illustrated by Susanna Natti (2005)

As a reader I really enjoyed this book. At first I thought that it might not be very good, but I really thought the message behind it was great. Many books that deal with bullying ignore helping the bully and focus on the target. In the case of this book, the reader sees the tremendous amount of responsibility that is placed on Kevin. This gives some insight into why some bullies behave the way that they do. Once Beany befriended him and he finally found a friend, he began to open up.

As a teacher I would definitely use this book. I would probably use it in a reading group where we could go chapter by chapter and discuss waht is happening. I want students to realize that although bullies may be mean sometimes, they also might have some really hard stuff they are dealing with at home. To better understand how to stop bullying we need to look at what the bullies are going through, and this book gives us a good opportunity for that. This book could spark discussions about other books about bullying and we could look more indepth as to why other bullies might be acting out.