ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Alligator & The Ducklings by Michael J. Collins, José Ramírez , Jaimie Hope

Updated on December 19, 2015

Disclaimer

I was sent a free copy of The Alligator & The Ducklings by Michael J. Collins (Author), José Ramírez (Illustrator), Jaimie Hope (Editor) in exchange only for my honest and unbiased review of The Alligator & The Ducklings by Michael J. Collins (Author), José Ramírez (Illustrator), Jaimie Hope (Editor).

Most people would agree that ducklings are cute. If you’re an alligator, you also think they look delicious. Will the mean alligator feast on the baby ducks or will the animals and townspeople stop him? Read this timeless tale of bullying and nature to find out.

— Michael J. Collins

Review

As I wrote at the top of this hub: "I was sent a free copy of The Alligator & The Ducklings by Michael J. Collins (Author), José Ramírez (Illustrator), Jaimie Hope (Editor) in exchange only for my honest and unbiased review of The Alligator & The Ducklings by Michael J. Collins (Author), José Ramírez (Illustrator), Jaimie Hope (Editor)."

As many of you already know from my previous posts I am an after school counselor at an elementary school. Recently I have begun to work with a special needs group where the children are of different ages. I always enjoy getting children's books for review because I enjoy finding new books to read with my children at work.

I was interested in this book because it seemed to focus on the topic of bullying in a manner that a child could understand. I liked the idea of creating a fictional story with animals to broach the bullying topic. I particularly liked the idea of this because so often what bullying is ends up being misunderstood. I lost count of the number of times I get told by a child that they are being bullied only to discover upon investigation that the conflict is not one side nor is it a repeated thing. Normally it is just two friends who need a bit of a break from each other.

Amazon lists the recommended reading age as seven to ten years old and the grade level as three to five. Before reading the book this surprised me because I thought the book was intended for younger children as older children don't normally read picture books with cartoon animals. However after reading the book I feel that the recommendations are spot on because of the violence in the book. I expected the book to have the birds ganging up on the alligator and getting him to stop being a bully using words or by telling an adult. Instead this book shows birds, reptiles, and people attacking the alligator. At one point there is a reference to poking his eyes out. People throw stones at him and beat him with sticks. While to book does have a happy ending that does not negate the level of violence in this book.

I have to say that I would NEVER read this book to children nor offer it to them as it sends a bad message. The book pretty much says that those being bullied should fight back or get others to fight the bully physically for them. That is a bad message to send while bullying is WRONG that does not mean violence should be done back on the bully. The situation should be fixed with words or an adult should be sought. I am not saying that someone being attacked should not defend themselves, but I am not sure that the readers of this book would be able to distinguish from the two.

That aside the book was well written and the pictures were cute I just wish the topic would have been approached from a different angle. I would not recommend this book to any child ever.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)