The Meanest Thing to Say (A Little Bill Book for Beginning Readers)

Rating:
Summary: Little Bill learns an important lesson about trash talking
Review: As soon as you see that the title of this Little Bill Book for Beginning Readers by Bill Cosby is "The Meanest Thing to Say," I am sure you start to think of what would be the meanest thing you could say to somebody. Young readers will probably do the same thing, but I think older readers might have an advantage on coming up with really mean things to say. However, the important thing is that I serious doubt that any of us, regardless of our age and/or experience with saying mean things, will come up with the same thing that Cosby does in this story.

The situation is that there is a new boy in Little Bill's class named Michael Reilly. During recess when Little Bill and his friends start to play basketball Michael comes over and announces that he knows a better came. It is called Playing the Dozens and the idea is that you get twelve chances to say something mean to a person and whoever says the meanest thing wins. Jose and Andrew start playing the game, coming up with mean things to say about each other, and then Michael turns to little bill and says, "You shoot like a girl." But then the bell rings and Little Bill has until the next day to thing up the meanest possible thing to say back to Michael.

As Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint the Harvard Clinical Professor of Psychiatry explains in his letter to parents at the start of this book, sooner or later most children are going to meet other children who are deliberately mean. In that situation kids can either fight back to try to retreat. But in this book Cosby offers an alternative course of action that keeps the situation from escalating to something bad. Poussaint points out that this tactic might not always be practical, but the key thing here is that Cosby shows young readers that there are creative way to resolve conflicts with other children that do not involve losing face or resorting to violence. In these books, which he always dedicates to his son Ennis, Cosby has found a perfect way of combining his storytelling skills and his interest in educating.

There are a couple of other things I really liked about this book, which is illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood. The first is that it is essentially about trash talking, which has become an epidemic in sports and something that I can live without. Being witty is one thing, but meaning mean is another (shooting off your mouth in a basketball game does not get you any points). The other is that in this particular book Big Bill is the one that comes up with the solution. Usually it is Alice the Great or some other member of the family that seems to be coming up with the necessary wisdom in these stories, so it was nice to know that Big Bill can do more than say the wrong thing and have his wife give him a funny look.

Rating:
Summary: Little Bill learns an important lesson about trash talking
Review: As soon as you see that the title of this Little Bill Book for Beginning Readers by Bill Cosby is "The Meanest Thing to Say," I am sure you start to think of what would be the meanest thing you could say to somebody. Young readers will probably do the same thing, but I think older readers might have an advantage on coming up with really mean things to say. However, the important thing is that I serious doubt that any of us, regardless of our age and/or experience with saying mean things, will come up with the same thing that Cosby does in this story.

The situation is that there is a new boy in Little Bill's class named Michael Reilly. During recess when Little Bill and his friends start to play basketball Michael comes over and announces that he knows a better came. It is called Playing the Dozens and the idea is that you get twelve chances to say something mean to a person and whoever says the meanest thing wins. Jose and Andrew start playing the game, coming up with mean things to say about each other, and then Michael turns to little bill and says, "You shoot like a girl." But then the bell rings and Little Bill has until the next day to thing up the meanest possible thing to say back to Michael.

As Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint the Harvard Clinical Professor of Psychiatry explains in his letter to parents at the start of this book, sooner or later most children are going to meet other children who are deliberately mean. In that situation kids can either fight back to try to retreat. But in this book Cosby offers an alternative course of action that keeps the situation from escalating to something bad. Poussaint points out that this tactic might not always be practical, but the key thing here is that Cosby shows young readers that there are creative way to resolve conflicts with other children that do not involve losing face or resorting to violence. In these books, which he always dedicates to his son Ennis, Cosby has found a perfect way of combining his storytelling skills and his interest in educating.

There are a couple of other things I really liked about this book, which is illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood. The first is that it is essentially about trash talking, which has become an epidemic in sports and something that I can live without. Being witty is one thing, but meaning mean is another (shooting off your mouth in a basketball game does not get you any points). The other is that in this particular book Big Bill is the one that comes up with the solution. Usually it is Alice the Great or some other member of the family that seems to be coming up with the necessary wisdom in these stories, so it was nice to know that Big Bill can do more than say the wrong thing and have his wife give him a funny look.

Rating:
Summary: Age old playground problem tackled
Review: Bill Cosby's series of "Little Bill" books (before it became a regular T.V. series on Nick Jr.)are a big hit with kids and parents alike. Oprah even recommended "Meanest Thing to Say", which looks at bullying in school. Little Bill's parents are involved and caring, presenting the choices he has in order to deal with this. Bullying and tormenting are a staple in every school, and in every generation. This wonderful book helps parents to show their children that thay are not alone, and more importantly, how they really can cope in the face of a classmate's taunting.

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Summary: Dealing with bullies
Review: I discovered this book when seeking children's books about dealing with bullies. I was very pleased with this book. I especially like how Little Bill's father demonstrated a clever way to handle the bully by simply saying "So?" to anything he said.

With recent disturbing events of school shootings, it's important for parents to teach their chilren peaceful alternatives in dealing with bullies. Mr. Cosby's story is a fairly normal and benign story of a school yard bully, but his solution is clever and non-violent.

Rating:
Summary: The Meanest Thing to Say
Review: I would like to thank Bill and Varnette for the great work they have done. My son was having problems reading until we bought this book at a Book Fair. My son is 8 years old and loves reading know thanks to the wonderful job that Mr. Bill Cosby has done. Also he was having problems with teasing at school. But know he realize that teasing someone is very mean and that is can hurt them in the long run. Once again I would like to thank Bill and Varnette for the wondeful job they are doing. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Rating:
Summary: Words Can Never Hurt Me
Review: Little Bill is faced with a dilemma. Michael, a new kid at school, has invented a new game called "Playing the Dozens". The winner of the game is the person who can say the meanest things about others. Little Bill does not like the game and finds a unique way to play without hurting others.

Young children can relate to the message of this story and its colorful illustrations. The book instills morals, values, and teaches the lesson that saying mean things and name-calling can hurt others. The story also presents an excellent way kids can cope with being called names in addition to showing how to amicably deal with a bully.

Rating:
Summary: Words Can Never Hurt Me
Review: Little Bill is faced with a dilemma. Michael, a new kid at school, has invented a new game called "Playing the Dozens". The winner of the game is the person who can say the meanest things about others. Little Bill does not like the game and finds a unique way to play without hurting others.

Young children can relate to the message of this story and its colorful illustrations. The book instills morals, values, and teaches the lesson that saying mean things and name-calling can hurt others. The story also presents an excellent way kids can cope with being called names in addition to showing how to amicably deal with a bully.

Rating:
Summary: Oh dear Mr Cosby!
Review: This is a good book. It's pretty and fun and helps kids learn how to respond to mocking.

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Summary: Handled it well!
Review: Unfortunately, I recently came across The Meanest Thing to Say in an African-American bookstore. Once I read it to my 4 and 5 year old they enjoyed it. I feel in this book you handled a bully situation well. Most people as we know generally tease and bully because of things lacking within themselves, simple jealousy, or for attention. It definitely helped my little girl. Thanks Bill and Varnette. Keep up the good work.