The Book of Mean People

by Toni Morrison, Pascal Lemaître (Illustrator)

"This is a book about mean people. Some mean people are big. Some little people are mean." In Toni Morrison's second illustrated book collaboration with her son, Slade, she offers a humorous look at how children experience meanness and anger in our world. The world and its language can be confusing to young people. To them, meanness can have many shapes, sizes, and sounds. " My mother is mean when she says I don't listen. She says, "Do you hear me?" I can't hear her when she is screaming. This wise child knows that meanness can be a whisper or a shout, a smile or a frown. Young readers know about meanness, too, and will feel satisfied by having their perspective championed in The Book of Mean People.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Emotion, Fiction, Family, Animals, African American

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon (1977) brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved (1987); she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.
Born and raised in Lorain, Ohio, Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a B.A. in English. Morrison earned a master's degree in American Literature from Cornell University in 1955. In 1957 she returned to Howard University, was married, and had two children before divorcing in 1964. Morrison became the first black female editor for fiction at Random House in New York City in the late 1960s. She developed her own reputation as an author in the 1970s and '80s. Her novel Beloved was made into a film in 1998. Morrison's works are praised for addressing the harsh consequences of racism in the United States and the Black American experience.
The National Endowment for the Humanities selected Morrison for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities, in 1996. She was honored with the National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters the same year. President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on May 29, 2012. She received the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction in 2016. Morrison was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2020.

Reviews

[Romelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm...This books sparked a lot of controversy. Some people loved it, some hated it. I actually enjoyed this book. It's because I read it with a child-like heart. To be fair, I am going give you my review from 2 perspectives:

1- Child's view: THE BOOK OF MEAN PEOPLE is full of humor. There are all sorts of mean people- "...those who smile when they are being mean." "My grandmother tells me to sit down. My grandfather tells me to sit up. How can I sit down and sit up at the same time?" This shows the quick wit of Bunny, which carries on throughout the story. The lines are so funny. I also love how Bunny deals with meanness. It is a simple message of erasing the negative with a smile. Overall, this is a fun, light-hearted book for the young reader.
2- parent's view: this book does not deal with the real issues of meaness and how to appropriately overcome it. The book portrays parents, grandparents, babysitters, and teachers as mean people. Trying to get a child to eat his vegetables, play a board game correctly, show manners, and learn how to write are not good examples of meanness.

Okay. If the author were to rewrite this picture book to parent's liking, it would end up being a self-help book. If the author used better examples of meanness like pulling someone's hair, teasing or hitting, etc., the book would also take a different direction. I doubt humor would be part of it.

Fictional picture books are meant to entertain and enlighten. This book is meant to be funny. It did give me a laugh.

[Colleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

What is the deal with this book? This has to be the worst childrens books I've read. It basically "validates" for the bunny (child) that his Mom, Dad, Grandparents, teacher, brother and the babysitter are MEAN.

Ok...if you want the reader (child) to identify with the bunny, fine. I'm sure children do sometimes think that teachers seem mean when they are told to write better or when Mom encourages them to eat vegetables...BUT WHY IS THERE NO EXPLANATION?! Why is there no lessons to teach the bunny (child) how to deal with their perception of mean people in their life? Why is there no explanation to why the people in the bunny's (child's) life might be mean or seem mean? Toni Morrison ends the book by having the bunny deal with the mean people by saying "I will smile anyway"! WHAT???

And then the last few pages of the book made me think that Toni might have been smoking something because they make no sense. It says, "Big people are little when they are mean. But little people are not big when they are mean. Screaming people disappear when they yell. Frowning people scare me when they smile."

If this is the type of childrens book she is going to write....then don't bother! It's horrible!

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that this book is open-ended and offers places for kids to have conversations. Which of these people IS being mean? Kids are smart. They can debate! We don't need to give them all the answers.

[Kevin English · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there's anything that I've learned about Morrison after reading several of her novels for adults, it's that her writing is always about perspectives. This children's book is no different. It really gets at how sometimes children can perceive simple acts as mean, as well as the complexity of what appears to be "nice."

[Travis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the WORST children's book EVER.

[Mindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is by Toni Morrison, so I had preconceived notions of greatness. While the children LOVE this book, I do not. The "mean" people in it are the mom for making the bunny eat his dinner, the teacher for grading the bunny off for sloppy homework, and his brother for telling him how to play chess. There's no explanation at the end that those actions are not "mean."

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a book told from the perspective of a young rabbit (child) about the mean people in his life. Let's talk about who the authors/illustrator are portraying as "mean."

The mother is mean for making the child eat vegetables. This is especially true if she does it with a smile. That makes it so much worse (sarcasm intended).

The bunnies little sibling (actually in diapers) is mean for pulling on his ears...like little babies don't naturally do this because they are exploring and don't realize it can hurt.

The grandmother for telling the child to sit down; the grandfather for telling the same child to sit up. The child asks "how can I sit down and sit up at the same time?" This is just encouraging children to be disrespectful. Children, if taught correctly, know the difference.

Again, the mother for asking the child "do you hear me?" Parents ask this when a child is not paying attention. They are asking for a response.

The teacher is mean for saying the child's letters are not on the lines. Uhm...teachable moment anyone?

I HATE THIS BOOK! I would never use it with any child at anytime! I'm glad many of the reviews of this book are similar.

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

This perfect for kids being bullied or any sensitive child for that matter.

Although I am a conflicted over the way parents & grandparents are portrayed. Children aren't always tuned into their best interests. So parents have to be the enforcers. Demonizing that role isn't beneficial for anyone.

[Guilherme Semionato · Rating 2 out of 5]

O livro das pessoas malvadas (Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 2023)

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young rabbit makes a book about all the mean people that he encounters: parents, siblings, teachers, and others, giving examples of their bad behavior, and imagining some suitable punishments for them. But in the end, forsaking retribution, the brave little bunny vows, “I WiLL SMiLE ANYWAY!”

The Morrisons fable for overcoming the bad attitude and behavior of others is enhanced by Lemaître’s illustrations which clearly capture a young child’s point of view.

[babyhippoface · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hm. Not sure. Trying to figure it out. Is this a book about bravery in the face of abuse? Or just keeping a good attitude when it feels like everyone is mean to you? Some of the "mean" characters were actually mean, but some of them were not.

My initial reaction was, "Parents aren't mean when they make you eat your vegetables or tell you to quiet down or sit down or sit up or any of those things; they are being parents, and at some point this bunny should figure that out."

But it is, after all, a book for children, so I suppose it is appropriate that the bunny views those authority figures as mean. And I suppose it is a good thing that the bunny decides to smile in the face of all the apparent meanness around him, but there were just some lines that didn't ring true for me. When his mother yells, he "can't hear her". When authority figures get angry and shout, he says they "disappear." That seems like the attitude of a child who has been at the mercy of an habitually ranting parent for a long while.

So I'm still confused about the author's purpose here. Persuade, or merely entertain? It did neither with me. (Or maybe I'm just overthinking a cutesy little fluffy bumble rabbit book?)

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my first picture book to review, but I just think it's interesting how a great adult writer doesn't necessarily know how to do children's books. I don't like her underlying philosophy in this book and another children's book by her and her son. To me, it promoted smugness, not kindness.

[Jonathon James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has very good illustrations, but also is interesting in that it tells the story in the viewpoint of a child. Kids will be able to empathize with the book in which the child(rabbit) sees things that are unfair or sneaky.

[Tamia Rene` · Rating 5 out of 5]

This practically explained how my son feel about people i general. I can understand how he feels. I don't fit in but that is fine. Me and my son are meant to stand out. We are original copies of us.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspirational book about not letting mean people get to you! Super cute, easy to read text, and simple yet hilarious illustrations.

[Shua · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome :D

[A YOGAM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es gibt viele Möglichkeiten, das Spannungsfeld zwischen Gut und Böse in der realen Welt zu erkunden. Die im vorliegenden Buch gewählte Herangehensweise ist dabei eine eigenwillige und provokante: Sie konfrontiert Kinder spielerisch mit den Versuchungen des Bösen, ohne sich auf moralische Eindeutigkeiten zu stützen. In der Praxis dürfte ein solcher Ansatz zwar nur wenige Nachahmer finden, doch gerade darin liegt sein Wert – er eröffnet Raum für Nachdenken statt für Belehrung.
Toni Morrison 1931 - 2019), die hier gemeinsam mit ihrem Sohn Slade Morrison (1965 - 2010) schreibt, zeigt, dass das Nachdenken über das Böse schon in der Kindheit beginnen kann – nicht als Warnung, sondern als Einladung zur Selbstreflexion.

[Jessika جيسيكا Valentine ملو فالنتاين · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has some wisdom to it. If you look at it shallowly, it is enjoyable, fun and to the point. But take one more look at it, and you see how the book is written from a child's point of view. This can encourage conversation afterwards about discipline and why parents and grandparents behave in certain ways that might simply look mean to the child. It can also be a child's voice when he or she is upset and do not necessarily know how to express those feelings. I like the illustrations to and how easy and direct the book and the expressions of it are.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book has value. While the bunny in this story sees almost everything and everyone as mean - growing up a little it is easy to see that many of the actions that the bunny perceives is mean is not mean at all but is kind and loving with an intent to teach. But I think this book makes a point - often when we attempt to teach someone something, when we attempt to correct something we are perceived as mean. This book can open up a discussion on what really is mean and what is not.

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure if this book contains any meaningful lessons for a kid, but if it were to be read from the perspective of the child, I do understand why they would categorise the explained behaviour as "being mean", I think there could have been more conversation about bullying and how "mean" people actually are.

Either way, I loved the illustrations and the light hearted nature of the book.

This is a good beginner for me to have my reading goal met this year.

[Mj · Rating 2 out of 5]

I still cannot figure out the audience to this book. It's supposed to be a children's book, but the moral of the story seems to be "The people correcting you will be mean." I guess that could lead to some freethinking independence, but people aren't always inherently right?

The art is great though. It's definitely a pretty book to look at.

[Agnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

written by mother and son, this is a book about mean people - who may not be who you think they are, and might instead be all around you, at times. there are things people do when they are being mean, when they are mean people. bigger things and smaller things, but belittling all the same. how often are we mean? and how does being mean transform us? this book tells us about it.

[Susannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I struggled with this book, the journal that accompanies it is awesome. You can read my full review here-
http://teaandtheology.com/my-book-of-...

[Mills College Library]

Picture M8812m 2002

[Jane Sun · Rating 4 out of 5]

《小气鬼之书》，机智小兔，大人可不是很小气，常常忘记怎样微笑，怎样快乐。

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for discussing emotions, but it needs a discussion before, during, and after so that the child is just stuck in emotion and meanness.

[Lillian Slater · Rating 1 out of 5]

There wasn’t really a point to the little bunny saying everyone was mean. It didn’t talk about how not to be mean or how to properly express emotions, just to smile

[Kelsey Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grade K-1 ??
Simple but educates students that bullies are everywhere/everybody

[Aniel]

Prefiro não opinar

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. What a message.