School Isn’t Fair by Patricia Baehr and illustrated by R.W. Alley is about four-year-old Edward describing all the ways he’s a victim of unfairness during his school day. I have a fondness for this book because…

- Edward’s ‘voice’ is so authentic. He sounds like a typical four-year-old. My 3 and 5 year-olds call each other silly names and whine about something not being fair – just like Edward.

- The conflicts are real. Edward is bullied. He doesn’t get his way in class. He can’t run as fast as his classmates. He can’t see the pictures during story time. And he acts out because he doesn’t know how to express his anger.

- The illustrations are nice. It always helps to have decent illustrations to convey a story.

As with most children’s stories, it’s got a happy ending, but it’s realistic. Edward figures out that he can do something that no one else can do – yet. Then he makes friends by sharing his skill – even with the bully.

There’s a ton of teachable moments and talking points in this story without ‘preaching life lessons’ to your child. Plus, I rented this book from the library but even on Amazon it’s less than $5. Overall, I think this book is a winner.

Related articles

• Books about Bullying for All Grade Levels (bookshare.org)
• my review // great children’s picture books (jan 05, 2013) (paulysrachie.typepad.com)
• 2012 Best of Writing and Illustrating (kathytemean.wordpress.com)