EllRay Jakes Is NOT a Chicken!

Quiz time. Place your books under your desks and bring out your #2 pencils. Everyone ready? All right. Reach back into your brain cells and please name for me all the great contemporary early chapter books that you can think of that star male African-American protagonists. Heck, let’s make it even m......more

EllRay (short for Lancelot Raymond), the smallest kid in his third grade class, is being physically and verbally assaulted by a large bully and his follower. Something of a cut-up, and with a short temper, normally EllRay would react to this stress with verbal comebacks or acting out in class, but h......more

She really went in hard with the gender roles.......more

In this book about bullying, I fail to see where a lesson is ever learned. In fact, after the big fight between EllRay and Jake, they are treated to a trip to Disneyland while the parents still don't know about the fight. And the kids lie about it. The author skips right over everything that happens......more

Message learned: Adults can tell when things are wrong. Disclaimer: I was bullied in school. I was in EllRay's shoes. I wanted to scream at this book! In fact, I did stop on quite a few occasions to proclaim my dislike for this book to my son. EllRay is bullied by Jared, to the point where all other s......more