Sunday, November 26, 2006

Don't Feed The Bully by Brad Tassell

Hannibal "Handy" Greatneck III, a boy detective, moves to a new school. There he discovers an unusual sight. There is a cage in the classroom, and all the students seem to be afraid of a puny Kurt Pesterman. When Handy tries to expose Kurt's misuse of power to the teachers, Kurt frames Handy in an attempt to get Handy in deep trouble. Don't Feed the Bully is a humorous story with a very good moral.

To be frank, I was skeptical about this book when I recieved it. It was thin, had drawings, and sounded...well like something a child would read. I was somewhat wrong. While the plot is geared more towards ages 10-12, there was a surprising amount of extensive vocabulary. The analogies Brad Tassel writes made me chuckle every time. The plot had great lessons on how to stop or deter bullying, and that was amplified by the appendix giving step-by-step explanations about how to overpower bullies. The book has great potential, and I think Brad Tassell could make this into a series. Handy Greatneck might just be the next Encyclopedia Brown.


Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Quincy, Pennsylvania United States of America