The Pout Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark

Big Scary Monster

Written and Illustrated by Thomas Docherty

Candlewick Press, 2011

26 pages

Picture Books

          I chose this book because the children that I was babysitting over the summer were having trouble with being bullies towards each other.  This book is about a big monster that lives on top of a mountain.  He fills his free time

being mean to and picking on the smaller animals on the mountain.  Eventually, they all start to hide from him, and he becomes very bored and lonely on the mountain. As he begins to look down on the mountainside, he notices many other small animals.  He decides that if the animals on top of his mountain won’t come out and ‘play’ with him then he will go down the mountain.  Sadly, once he begins to make his way down the mountain all the trees, rocks, and animals start to become a lot bigger than they first appeared to be from far away.  The BIG animals scare the big scary monster and he runs all the way back up the mountain.  He is very apologetic and attempts to be friendly to the other animals. 

          The illustrations in this book are done in water color.  The paint is brushed on to provide texture and a cool feel to the book.  The book was typeset in Century Schoolbook.  The text is set up in an informal way and there practically no negative space.  The only time there is any negative space is when the author wanted it that way.  The negative space issued to show a progression of running up and down the mountain. 

          This is an important topic to discuss with any student, but especially the younger ones.  You want to nip this type of behavior in the bud BEFORE it becomes an issue.  I would definitely use this book to bring about a discussion about bullying.  I might also use this book to prompt the students to act out a story or even to write about a time when they felt helpless and how the situation was resolved.  There are no awards for this book at this time.