Bossy Bear by David Horvath
Bossy Bear (2007) and Just Like Bossy Bear (2009) will find their way into the Good Manners basket and I will be reading them at the beginning of the year as we start to set expectations for our classroom. There will lots to talk about as we discuss the behavior of the main characters in these books. Bossy Bear is VERY BOSSY! He wants everything his way and he wants it right now. As can be expected, he doesn’t have very many friends. That is until he meets Turtle. When he demands Turtle’s balloon, Turtle very willingly hands it over. Bossy Bear asks him, “You don’t think I’m bossy?” Turtle tells him honestly, that he is indeed bossy, but he doesn’t have to be. That gives Bossy Bear something to think about and he lets go of the balloon. The last 2 pages show Bossy Bear giving Turtle a present…a crown to match his own. The reader is left with the hope that Bossy Bear has learned his lesson.
Alas, it’s not to be. In Just Like Bossy Bear, Turtle watches his friend shout, demand, and yell at the characters around them. Now Turtle wants to be just like Bossy Bear, so he starts making his own demands (“Gimme! Do this! Now!). Hmmm…Bossy Bear realizes that Turtle is not being very kind and he knows he needs to change his ways. He decides to set a good example. Bossy Bear stops being bossy and starts being friendly and considerate. (Reminds me of the first time my then young daughter used my favorite 4 letter word and I realized that I had to set a better example.) Will it work? The reader has to wait until the very last page to see if Turtle has learned a lesson from Bossy Bear and starts using good manners.
The author, David Horvath and his wife Sin-Min are the creators of the Ugly Dolls. The simple cartoon-like characters resemble the Ugly Dolls. The sparse text is in a bold font on bright, single colored backgrounds. I think these books will invite young readers to go back to the book over and over. Emergent readers will be able to “read the pictures” from the start and transitional readers will be able to sit and read the words. I found a Bossy Bear doll and am thinking I might get one for my classroom. My kids love to get out the stuffed animals and read to them, so they might like having Bossy Bear right there to remind them to use their good manners. I’m even thinking that making our own Bossy Bear book of manners might be the first class book we publish.
