A TAIL TALE

A new student tries a clever method to fit in.

Wally is new at his school and has trouble making friends. On the playground, everyone deliberately excludes him, and on the school bus, he rides alone. After a particularly discouraging day, he plops himself under a tree and wishes that he were different. Out pops the Tailor, a fairy godmother-esque character who offers him a unique opportunity. “I’m the Tailor. I make tails for the animals. You’d be very different if you had a tail!” The idea is enticing, but before Wally, who’s white with brown hair, can even decide, a snake appears and warns him off of the choice. After all, the snake is all tail and still has no friends of his own. Wally understandably still wants to stand out, but the snake takes issue with each of his options. Wally realizes that there are better ways to stand up to bullies than trying to differentiate himself from them physically, and is even able to help the snake overcome his loneliness, too. Kessides’ debut picture book provides young readers with a model for working through emotions and solutions surrounding bullying. Her text is sparse, but this allows her message to appear loud and clear. Gledhill’s watercolor illustrations put the characters into focus at the expense of the backgrounds, which lack detail and visual interest.

A simple story about bullying that uses an odd method to arrive at good advice.