Thomas the Toadilly Terrible Bully by Janice Levy (review)

Thomas the toad hates being ignored, so he decides to become a bully. The trouble with this plan is that Thomas isn’t particularly good at bullying: he’s not strong enough to be intimidating, and his insults merely invite giggles. Even he confronts Gomer, the weakest toad around, it turns out that what made Gomer cry wasn’t Thomas’ insult but a much bigger bully, complete with warts, a leather jacket, and low-slung jeans revealing heart-patterned boxers. After cleverly tricking the big bully into picking a fight with his own reflection, Thomas realizes that he makes a much better friend than a bully. Thomas’ strategies not to be ignored by his peers will be familiar to kids, and Thomas’ change from bully to friend becomes a plot point rather than a lesson. The illustrations, acrylic on gessoed paper, take on a texture reminiscent of fresco painting, and the swatches of tan, chartreuse, and vermilion call to mind fall foliage. The big-eyed toad caricatures capture mood perfectly through dramatic facial expressions (the gulp is almost audible when Thomas cowers in the shadow of the “baddest-to-the-bone bully”). This is a slightly more serious take than Willems’ Leonardo the Terrible Monster (BCCB 2/05), but the similarities are striking, and it might be interesting to pair the two as explorations of the failures of being mean.