Chester+Raccoon+and+the+Big+Bad+Bully

__Biographical data__ Title: Chester Raccoon and the Big Bad Bully By: Audrey Penn Illustrated by: Barbara L. Gibson Hardcover

__Author biography__ Audrey Penn grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. Audrey Penn didn’t start off her career as a writer. Penn, in the 1970s, was a ballerina dancer dancing for the New York City Ballet. Danny Diamond Dance Theatre,Stuttgart Ballet, and the National Ballet. Between 1973 and 1976 she was an alignist and choreographer for the US Figure Skating team for the Pan American Games and the 1976 Olympic Gymnastics Team. Penn's first book was //Happy Apple Told Me//. In 1980, after developing Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, Penn was too ill to continue with ballet. Due to many painful surgeries and not being able to walk for weeks led her to write more books like //Blue Out of Season// and //No Bones About Driftiss//. Penn currently resides in Maryland with her husband and their two children. Audrey Penn's first book written in 1975, //Happy Apple Told Me//, won the Midstate Library Association Award and was nominated for the Caldecott Medal Award. Penn's second book, //Blue Out of Season//, won the Mid-State Library Association Award and Very Special Arts Recognition Award. Her best known book, //The Kissing Hand//, was the New York Times, number one best seller and won the Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Educational Journalism. In 2004, //A Pocket Full of Kisses// also was on the //New York Times// number one best seller. (Retrieved from Audrey Penn's Official Website).

__Summary__ This book talks about a case of bullying using animals as the characters. It’s a family of three little raccoons that live in the forest and go to school with other animals, but in the school there is a badger that bullies all of the animals. The little raccoons tell Mrs. Raccoon about it, and Mrs. Raccoon gets all the animals together and tells them a story that’s going to help them get together and fight against the bully badger. Once they listened to the story, the next day the confronted the badger all together. The badger saw they weren’t scared of him anymore, so he got scared. All the animals instead of fight him, they offered him to play with them, and the badger turned to be friends with them and never bullied them again.

__Book review__ I think this is a really good story for kids that show a good example of how to deal with bullying in a polite way. If all the animals/students get together and confront the bully they will end up winning and not having to deal with a bully anymore. It shows the students that in these situations they need to get together and help each other and be brave.

__ Literary elements analysis __ I loved the illustration of this movie, because the reader is trying to send a message to the children illustrating animals as the characters of the book. I thought it was a very interesting way to get children’s attention since they usually love animals and they will have fun while reading it. The story takes place in the forest where different animals play the role of students. This is defiantly a great book that kids will love.