The Juice Box Bully

Sornson, Bob, and Maria Dismondy. The Juice Box Bully. Nelson Publishing & Marketing , 2013.

More info:  https://www.bookdepository.com/Juice-Box-Bully-Bob-Sornson/9781933916729

Genre: Fiction

Summary: The Juice Box Bully is a book about encouraging kids to stand up for what is right and motivates  them not to be bystanders to bullying. Pete is the new boy at his school and he is not very nice to his new classmates. His classmates struggle with being kind to Pete through his bad behavior. Even when Pete is a bully to Ralph and his friends, Ralph remains loving and kind to him. This brings out a side of Pete that no one has seen before. A nice side. A side that wants to be accepted and embraced by his classmates. The students make a classroom promise to never be bystanders to bullying!

Target Audience: I think grades 1st through 5th would enjoy this book and find it relatable. This book has a great message about bullying and how to stand up for what is right, even when it can be difficult. I think any of these grades would be able to gather important information from the text. Students are never too young to start learning about what bullying is and what it looks like. It is important to be reading books like this young so students can begin practicing kindness young!

Evaluation: The Juice Box Bully meets many of the standards that Donna Norton has described as high quality literature. The illustrations throughout this book are great and I think students would enjoy them. The illustrations are bright and colorful, which will capture students attention and hold it with each vibrant page. The theme of this story also meets the standards and criteria Donna Norton describes in the text book. This theme is about kindness and working together to stand up to a bully. It is an important theme to discuss with students and will make a lasting impact on them even after the story is over. This story also meets some of the standards on the Multicultural list in our textbook as well. This book shows the knowledge of communication strategies, perspective taking and how to handle conflict. All of these topics are very important for children to learn about and The Juice Box Bully does a wonderful job of covering them.

Reader Response Activity: After reading The Juice Box Bully to the class I would have every student write on a sticky note a promise they think we should make in OUR classroom, just like the students did in the book. Then I would write down some ideas on a poster and as a class we could come up with our own promise. An example of this would be: "We promise not to be bystander's to bullying!" or "We will choose to be kind to our classmates, even if they are not always kind to us!" We could then hang this poster in the class so we can be reminded of our promises each day.