Official Review: The Bully Barn by Robert Gioia

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Official Review: The Bully Barn by Robert Gioia

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[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Bully Barn" by Robert Gioia.]
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The Bully Barn, by Robert Gioia, is the story of a mouse named Marty who exhibit’s the stereotypical characteristics of mice in children’s stories. He is tiny, meek, and timid to the point of it being painful to read about. In this story, Marty goes through his daily activities in the barn on a farm, which include being ridiculed and physically bullied. Not the typical children’s story. In fact, this book was specifically written to be used by parents and teachers to help teach children about bullying and the repercussions that come with being a part of the bullying cycle.
In the introduction of the book Gioia writes, “it is hoped that they [children] not only understand bullying behavior, but also have the courage to affect change while increasing awareness for victims, bystanders, and even the bullies themselves.” Keeping this in mind, Gioia does an excellent job in portraying this crucial and prevalent issue in both an entertaining and educational manner.

Also, something that I will discuss further in the “likes” section of my review, is the end of the book [the last 10 pages or so] where Gioia has added follow-up questions and information about the story and bullying.
‘If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate you neutrality.’ - Desmond Tutu (copyrights page)
I hadn’t expected to find this book as enjoyable as I did mostly because of the topic that it was about. However, right from the very beginning it had me engaged and everything fit together. When I first read the quote above on the copyrights page, I thought that it was a clever connection to the topic of bullying plus the inclusion of animals made it more relevant to the actual story. After reading the story, this quote is made even more relevant with the main character, Marty, being a mouse and also going through instances of injustice towards himself. The quote is a really good way to start off this story and I just had to include it to show my appreciation for the little things.
On it [farm] was a tired old barn that had faithfully stood guard at the end of the road for many years. Its skin, weathered by the passing of endless seasons, sagged with a faded hint of red.
I absolutely love the personification and other types of figurative language that are used in the story. They make the visuals stronger, but also I like the opportunity that the examples present for teachers to help teach about different elements of the English language. When I was student teaching in an urban high school, the majority of the juniors that I was teaching could not explain what metaphors, similes, and personification were. Having a story like this, which has those examples, plus an important message would have helped with those lessons. Essentially I could have killed to birds with one stone. Also, the writing also has enough substance to make the visuals clear and could be used to get visual and artistic students engaged by having them sketch out what is being described.
‘BARN RULES’ 1. Keep your paws, hoofs, and feathers to yourself! 2. If you have nothing nice to say then don’t snort, moo, nay, baaaa, cackle or otherwise say it! 3. Treat other animals the same way you want to be treated! 4. Everyone is different, so accept them for who and what they are! 5. Learn to get along!
This book was a little goldmine of different ways for teachers to engage students in the classroom. With the barn rules, this would be a great way to not only teach students about the proper way to interact with their classmates, but to also get students engaged in making their own set of classroom rules, especially with younger students. I especially liked that the rules were introduced in the beginning of the story and then reinforced again at the end by having them repeated along with all the animals being nicer to Marty to show examples of how those rules play out.
Having the rules applied to the animals also gives it a playful tone to the rules that would make younger children more receptive to having rules being introduced to their classroom. And if the rules were ever broken, the teacher could refer back to the story to help students remember why they are important to follow.
‘You’ve mistreated and bullied that poor mouse on a daily basis… And yet despite all of that, he still offered his paw in friendship.’
I’m not going to lie, at first Marty got on my nerves. I myself don’t let other people push me around, so I found myself getting frustrated with Marty because he was letting all of these animals be so cruel to him. Of course, that didn’t last because I refocused on what the message behind the story was. And then I grew to appreciate the perseverance that this mouse showed as he was dealt these blows to his emotional state and his physical person. By the end of the story I was super excited with how Marty decided to act towards the animals who had bullied him every day. Even though he is a tiny mouse, Marty is a character that I would love for children to aspire to be like.

Similar to Marty becoming the brave mouse that stands up to the bullies, the other animals representing the various types of bullying that occurs was well done. By the end of the book, I was able to discern which character was which type, without even knowing the technical differences between the different types of bullying.

The last aspect to the book that I loved and embraced was the ending of the book. The last 10-ish pages that included a list of 20 discussion questions to help evaluate whether the child(ren) understood what the story was about. Most of the questions are simple recall questions, but a few really get the child to think about being in a similar situation. Then the final pages give detailed explanations to the various forms of bullying, how they affect both the bully and the bullied and what can be done about the issue.

As much as I love The Bully Barn, there were a few features that I had problems with. Of course, they weren’t deal breakers, and in the overall scheme they don’t effect the story at all, but if they weren’t’ there at all the story and information that it is providing would be even stronger.

One of the problems that I had were the visuals in the book. This can’t really be helped, but if the visuals had been hand illustrated, I think it would be a lot more appealing to younger children who are attracted to visually appealing things. Although, the visuals weren’t that bad and they did portray what was going on in the story very well.

As I said earlier, I loved the list of rules that were included in the story. However, I thought that their introduction in the story was a little abrupt. Right after Marty’s character is introduced the story starts describing the rules hanging on the wall. It would better transitioned if Marty was the one looking at the list and thinking about the rules.
It almost felt like someone had punched him in the stomach really hard, and he felt sick.
This is one of the few examples from the actual story that I thought wouldn’t be understood by younger kids. How many children get punched in the stomach that this example would be understood? I don’t think that I ever was or knew anyone else that was ever punched in the stomach, at least until high school, so I just thought that this example to describe how Marty was feeling didn’t fit. Not a huge deal, like I had mentioned earlier, but it had made me stop long enough to think about it.
If you kick me I’m going to bite you as hard as I can on your foot and when I get back I’m going to bite you again!
As someone who watches younger children, I had an issue with this threat that Marty makes to one of his bullies. Yes it makes sense that he would bite his bully since he is a mouse, but I know that many children like to mimic the actions and words of characters in books and movies. So with his threat of biting one of the other animals, I thought that this would be something that I would either not read out loud to a younger child, or substitute with a less physical threat. This isn’t something that would matter with older children as much, but it something that I would take into account when reading the story to younger children.
As many as one out of four elementary school bullies have a criminal record by the time they are thirty.”
“Over a thousand studies have concluded a link between violent media/violent video games and a higher propensity for violence in our children.
The final problem that I encountered when reading this book was the lack of sources when statements and statistics like this were made at the end of the book. Having the mantra “source your material” drilled into my head as a student, I had trouble believing the validity in the statements being made by Gioia. With something important as bullying, having sources to back up the statements would have made the issue more real. Anyone can make up a statistic and make it sound legitimate, but with the backing of a concrete and reliable source, it would be impossible to refute.

Overall, I found The Bully Barn to be a wonderful story. It addresses the issue of bullying in a manner that is accessible to children as well as the parents and teachers that will be teaching the material. It also does a wonderful job of providing a good amount of information to inform the adults of what bullying encompasses and the affects that it has on the children that encounter it. I would give The Bully Barn, by Robert Gioia, a rating of 4 out of 4.

***
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Post by sahmoun2778 »

Very thorough review. Thank you. This is an issue that needs to be addressed in creative ways and it sounds like this book is one of those ways.
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Post by Sunjay »

Awe i enjoyed the review. Im definitly looking forward reading this book
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Post by obiebookworm »

Nice review! Books on bullying for children is always good to raise awareness.
Thanks for the review!
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Post by amybo82 »

It sounds like this book addresses a very serious and important topic in a way that is very approachable for children. Your review was thorough, and it made me interested in checking it out!
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Post by charvey33 »

This book has many layers, and from the description itself, you know that it is taking on different parties involved in bullying. I appreciate the sentiment. A picture book is also a great tool for children to learn lessons. However, I'm not entirely certain on the use of farm animals. This may take away the fact that bullying is real and happens to children in schools and around them. I'm no expert and I'm just a parent, but what I do know is being bullied and writing a book for children is different from actually interacting with children who have been bullied and have them writing a book based on these interactions.

Aside from this, the book does cover everything it sets out to do. It is entertaining and it teaches readers, young and old, a thing or two. I liked it and will use it as a tool to teaching my children about bullying. Will it be a compulsory tool or the main tool? I don't think so.
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Post by LivreAmour217 »

As a mother and a former teacher's assistant, I know that bullying awareness is a hot topic in schools these days. However, it doesn't seem like there are many effective ways to teach children about the consequences of bullying. This book sounds like it takes a fresh approach, and I thank you for writing such a thorough review. I am considering buying a copy, not only to share with my son, but to also share with other children should the opportunity arise.
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Post by kio »

This book sounds like it takes a unique approach to handle bullying. What age ranges would you recommend for sharing this book with?
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Post by JillMarieAndrews »

I will definitely be checking this out for my children's summer read. It is so unfortunate that this is such an intense issure for not only children but adults as well. Thank You for the review.
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Post by reviewerbook17 »

This is a wonderful book and I love reading new and interesting books.
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Excellent job on this review!
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Post by kwamemeloy »

I wholeheartedly appreciate the way you've skillfully untangled the narrative threads, allowing readers to grasp the tapestry of the book's themes and characters.
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