~ SeReNiTy DoEsN't CoMe EaSy ~: Our (My son, Nathan and I) Review: Grayson The BULLY Frog with TED and RAYMOND by Rhonda Patton....

Grayson the BULLY Frog with TED and RAYMOND

Written by: Rhonda Patton

Illustrated by: Chester McDaniel

Released: January 28, 2014

About the Book:

Do you know a BULLY? Has your child been bullied? Do you believe these books should be in every library around the globe? Come take a look. It is happening everywhere and OUR CHILDREN are killing themselves because of #bullies. PLEASE help me and these other authors take a STAND against bullies. Grayson, the BULLY frog, bullies on Ted, Raymond's best friend. Ted gets upset because he was bullied and Raymond stood beside and did nothing. Take a look at this book and see how it made Ted feel.

Excerpt:

Nathan and I chose this picture from the book to use as our excerpt, because this was our absolute favorite part of the book....and....because it really gives you something to think about.

Not only does it give you something to think about until you get a chance to grab your very own copy of Grayson, the BULLY Frog, but more importantly, it gives you something to think about VERY SERIOUSLY !!

"How would you like it if..."

Our (my son, Nathan and I) Review:

Nathan (Nate for short) and I both absolutely LOVED this book! All caps is still a huge understatement for exactly how much we enjoyed this book, but Nate insists this is how we will make absolute sure that everyone knows just how much we LOVED the book.

Rhonda does an excellent job with this book, and the illustrations are just wonderful as well.

Before this book, I wasn't familiar with TED and RAYMOND, but I hear, they are quite the 'HAPPENING COUPLE of FRIENDS' these days. And you can be sure that Nate and I will be doing our research and getting to know TED and RAYMOND on a much more personal level.

OK, OK, on with the review you say....

Long story short, there are three main characters, TED, RAYMOND, and Grayson. One of them is bullied and his feelings are hurt when his friend sort of goes along with the bullying for whichever personal reason he has. The bullying is recognized by someone else and brought to everyone's attention and then handled in a wonderful way.

Ok, so I don't want to do any spoiling or any of that, but there are a few specifics that Nate felt it was IMPORTANT that I include.

For instance:

Nate likes how RAYMOND shakes TED's hand and apologies sincerely after it is brought to his attention that he has hurt his friend's feelings, and how they go on to eat pizza together afterwards, just as if nothing has happened....because they are TRUE FRIENDS!

Mom likes that RAYMOND also gets Grayson to apologize sincerely to TED and then how on their walk to school together, they witness someone else being a bully to a little girl and how Grayson is the one who STEPS UP and gets the bullying to stop, in a nice way!! (as our excerpt picture shows)

Nate likes that after this, they are all shown walking to school TOGETHER, laughing and having fun.

Nate wanted to know how TED's Mom knew something was wrong (like I always do) with TED, even though TED answered "nothing" (like Nate always does).

Well we all know what this Mom said to Nate...."That's what Mommies are for, it's one of our special gifts as a parent, kind of like a superhero and his special abilities." and how it's only natural that a Mommy gets to know the certain ways her child will act or respond in different situations, and how parents feel the need to help their children when something is bothering them, whether the child wants to admit to it right away or not.

And, just one last thing I must give Nate complete credit for...

Nate noticed right away how TED and RAYMOND and Grayson all have the first letter of their name on their shirts, and then he explained to Mom (me) how Rhonda and the illustrator do that, so that everyone is able to know exactly who each character in the story is, with no way of possibly getting them mixed up. Wheewww, that was a close one. Mom was pretty confused there for a minute, lol.

This book is a wonderful way to teach your little ones about bullying if they haven't already had an experience with it, whether personally, or through that of a friend (such as my Nate has!)

It is also a great way to teach your little ones how they can deal with bullying when it happens to them or they see it happening to someone else...whether they know that 'someone else' or not!!!

This a wonderful book in general, just all the way around, about bullying, which unfortunately is still going strong amongst the youngsters these days. I mean, I can remember back when I was in grade school, middle school, and yes, even into high school...all that bullying that was done to people. So sad, so meaningless.

And what makes it so much more meaningless, is that so often you find that now that we've all grown up, those very same people who bullied us, realize that they hurt us and not only do they feel bad about it, with NO WAY TO MAKE IT UP TO THE PERSON THEY HURT NOW, but now they want to be friends, even if just on Facebook and such.

EVEN MORE SADLY, THOUGH....IS THAT SO MANY OF THOSE THAT WERE BULLIED AS YOUNGSTERS ARE NO LONGER WITH US NOW THAT WE HAVE ALL GROWN UP TO SEE JUST HOW MEANINGLESS IT ALL WAS...you hear so much on the news these days about yet another youngster who has hurt themselves, worse yet, maybe committed suicide after being bullied and feeling there was no better or easier way out.

Nate and I thank you, Rhonda for your efforts in the fight against bullying. And we are both really sorry that your daughter and some of her friends are victims of bullying. And finally, my sweet little Nate would like everyone to know that he too now, has joined the fight! He and his friend are forming an 'anti-bully club' that anyone in the neighborhood can join. They are calling it the
'NO MORE BULLIES,
NO MATTER WHAT'
club and are making a headquarters and everything.

~Nate & Serenity

About the Author:

Rhonda is a Children's book writer, a mother, and wife. She

is a children's book reviewer. Rhonda goes to college full-time as a graphics designer. She spends her time trying to inspire kids all over the world. Rhonda has many books with many different stories of hope, dreams, learning fun and adventures. Her stories are based out of her own life and many adventures her and her husband enjoy with their kids. Her husband, Chester McDaniel is her illustrator and her best friend. He loves to draw and do voice-over work. Together, they both want kids to have better dreams and fulfill them by setting their minds to it. If they want to be an astronaut then let them grow up to be one. They have dreams, we all do. We are steps away from them. We all just have to try.

Ted and Raymond came from a story that she created from another story of her own. Rhonda encountered a little frog one day and ever since she became fascinated with collecting frogs, then writing about them. Ted and Raymond are frog friends, who loves to tell their story and help others. Rhonda hopes you will enjoy her frog friends and other stories she has to tell.