Leave Me Alone: A Tale of What Happens When You Stand Up to a Bully

by Kes Gray, Lee Wildish (Illustrator)

Overview

Are there kids in your life who could benefit from a story about a boy who overcomes a bully? This is the perfect book!

A little boy is feeling sad because every day he has to face a bully. The little boy has friends: a frog, a cat, a rabbit, a cow, and other animal friends who insist on helping him. The next time the bully approaches, they all join with him and shout, "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" And it works! The bully turns around and goes away.

A clever use of rhyming verse gives a difficult subject a wonderfully light touch. Large color illustrations on every page capture the spirit of a story that will have special meaning for many boys and girls.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780764147364
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	09/01/2011
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Kes Gray is the also author of Mom and Dad Glue, the story of a troubled little boy who faces up to the challenge of his parents' divorce.

Editorial Reviews

The team behind 2009’s Mom and Dad Glue returns with another empathetic treatment of an emotionally trying subject: bullying. Working in rhymed couplets, Gray unspools the story of a boy seen sitting despondently in a green meadow, his shadow as long as his face. One by one, animals come up to offer comfort, but he rebuffs each one. “ ‘Leave me alone,’ I said./ ‘Sorry,’ said the cat./ ‘Your sadness makes my whiskers wilt,/ I think we need to chat.’ ” Eight animals later, the boy reveals the source of his anxiety, a giant “So big he blocks the sun,/ Who teases me and bullies me/ Every day for fun.” While Gray’s verse can feel plodding and predictable, Wildish’s artwork supplies a substantial amount of drama. The giant is downright terrifying—an enormous, hulking monster, backlit by a blazing sun, who lumbers toward the group, eyes glowing red. But by banding together and turning the boy’s refrain (and the book’s title) on its head, they send the giant packing. Is the book’s message subtle? No. Effective? Yes. Ages 4–7. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"The team behind . . . Mom and Dad Glue returns with another empathetic treatment of an emotionally trying subject: bullying. . . . Is the book's message subtle? No. Effective? Yes.
—Publisher's Weekly

"...a sensitively illustrated children's story about a boy who is frightened...by a mysterious giant enemy....This moving, simply narrated tale is beautifully illustrated with great imagination in a way that unforgettably reinforces the anti-bullying message. Children age 5 and over will enjoy Leave Me Alone."
—The Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher

Animal allies drive off a bully in this unconvincing British import.

Responding to the inquiries of a solicitous fly, frog, robin, cat, rabbit, cow, pig and magpie, a downcast lad explains that "My problem is a giant / So big he blocks the sun, / Who teases me and bullies me / Every day for fun." In Wildish's splashy, textured outdoor scenes, the bully, when he shows up, is indeed a mountainous, shadowy, red-eyed, scary giantwho will seem to most children more like an adult than your average punk. The multimedia illustrations here are undeniably effective, conjuring a hugely out-of-proportion, looming figure surrounded by violent splashes of red—but in response to the animals' concerted "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" it just turns without a word and walks away. "I never saw him after that / And I know I never will," concludes the young narrator, with conspicuous naïveté. Would that it were so easy to escape abuse.

It's always good to have a support group, but even very young readers are likely to wonder whether it'll be around for the next encounter. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews