What do you think?
Rate this book
Bad Guy
Sibling rivalry reaches new heights in this delightfully tongue-in-cheek picture book that’s perfect for fans of Lauren Castillo’s The Troublemaker.
Being a bad guy can be lots of fun. You can trap all of the superheroes in a cage with hungry lions or sail the ocean and keep all the treasure for yourself. You can even eat your little sister’s brain…
But this little bad guy is about to learn a valuable lesson from an unlikely culprit.
Hannah Barnaby’s humor and spare text are brought to life by Mike Yamada’s bold illustrations in this charming picture book about the special bond between brothers and sisters.
Being a bad guy can be lots of fun. You can trap all of the superheroes in a cage with hungry lions or sail the ocean and keep all the treasure for yourself. You can even eat your little sister’s brain…
But this little bad guy is about to learn a valuable lesson from an unlikely culprit.
Hannah Barnaby’s humor and spare text are brought to life by Mike Yamada’s bold illustrations in this charming picture book about the special bond between brothers and sisters.
32 pages, ebook
First published May 9, 2017
2 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
April 25, 2022
Not really that bad...but trying so hard! Kind of saw this as more of a cry to get noticed; reminded me of a bad time I went through when I was very young. Would be a great book for a small child who has shown a tendency to be a bully to read; looks at how bad actions often come back to haunt us.
January 29, 2018
In which our hero learns a hard lesson, which is that you should always assume that your enemies have ALSO been reading Sun Tzu.
September 22, 2017
I loved the idea of this book from the first moment I saw the cover, and it did not disappoint! It takes us into the imaginative play world of a self-identified "bad guy" -- we all know kids who love to act the part of the villain from their favorite movies and books! And for my kid, who always wants to be the hero, it was a great way to increase his understanding of the kids who do enjoy being the bad guy during play. I don't want to spoil the ending, but it's great...love the illustrations, too!
March 11, 2018
Meh. An OK ending with him respecting his sister and not there being a stereotype. But it seemed a little forced. The rest of it-I don't know. Older kids can get the humor of it. But I am looking for things in storytime and I don't think this would go as well.
October 19, 2017
Barnaby, Hannah Bad Guy, PICTURE BOOK. Simon, 2017. $18.
Top Notch illustrations follow the story of a little boy who is a self-professed bad guy. He eats astronauts, captures superheroes, and even runs the sheriff out of town. He is pretty good at the library but it’s only because he is concentrating on reading books to help out his bad guy skills. But this little boy thinks only guys can be bad, but he has another thing coming.
This book has incredibly darling and sharable illustrations! While I love a good bad guy (or gal) I didn’t like how unrepentant he was –‘bad guys don’t say they are sorry’, is not a great lesson for young readers. While the ending is really funny, I think working with children every day has made the whole ‘I can do what I want, when I want, to who I want’ behavior in children –not so funny to me.
PRE-K, EL(K-3)–OPTIONAL. Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2017...
Top Notch illustrations follow the story of a little boy who is a self-professed bad guy. He eats astronauts, captures superheroes, and even runs the sheriff out of town. He is pretty good at the library but it’s only because he is concentrating on reading books to help out his bad guy skills. But this little boy thinks only guys can be bad, but he has another thing coming.
This book has incredibly darling and sharable illustrations! While I love a good bad guy (or gal) I didn’t like how unrepentant he was –‘bad guys don’t say they are sorry’, is not a great lesson for young readers. While the ending is really funny, I think working with children every day has made the whole ‘I can do what I want, when I want, to who I want’ behavior in children –not so funny to me.
PRE-K, EL(K-3)–OPTIONAL. Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2017...
October 13, 2018
Bad Guy is a children's picture book written by Hannah Barnaby and illustrated by Mike Yamada. It retells a sibling rivalry where the boy envisions himself as a villain – a bad guy and his favourite target? Alice, his sister.
Barnaby's text is rather simplistic and straightforward. It is about a boy who loves pretending to be a bad guy and goes through the week pretending to be one. Yamada's illustrations were wonderfully done and brilliantly colored that accentuates the text.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. It is a boy who loves to being a bad guy, because he thinks it’s a lot of fun. However, unbeknownst to him, there is another bad guy approaching his territory – Alice, his sister. After all, some bad guys aren't guys at all.
All in all, Bad Guy is a wonderful children's book about the joys about being a villain and they can come from unexpected cases.
Barnaby's text is rather simplistic and straightforward. It is about a boy who loves pretending to be a bad guy and goes through the week pretending to be one. Yamada's illustrations were wonderfully done and brilliantly colored that accentuates the text.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. It is a boy who loves to being a bad guy, because he thinks it’s a lot of fun. However, unbeknownst to him, there is another bad guy approaching his territory – Alice, his sister. After all, some bad guys aren't guys at all.
All in all, Bad Guy is a wonderful children's book about the joys about being a villain and they can come from unexpected cases.
June 22, 2017
This picture book takes a fun look at sibling rivalry through the eyes of a naughty little boy with a wild imagination. The little guy in this story likes to think that he's a bad guy, a great villain. He spends his play time trapping super heroes in a cage, stealing treasure and burying it, and plotting his younger sister's demise. The vibrant illustrations that come from someone with a background in movie animation make the narrative even more entertaining, especially when you get to the twists at the end. One of the twists is very subtle, and I found myself going back over it several times and even had my husband go over it! This one would be a terrific way to work on inferencing skills with young readers!
June 14, 2017
This is an epic picture book. BAD GUY is a fabulous, wicked read aloud. I can't say enough about books that paint childhood with a realistic, yet fantastical paintbrush. Look for themes of bad behavior and sibling rivalry. The narrative voice and the illustrations are a perfect match. BAD GUY has a surprise twist that you may or not see coming, but the grand adventure is going back for a reread and finding all the clues to that twist and other sub-narratives. I've read it a bunch of times with my kids - I don't see how you can read it just once, you will be missing SO much.
October 2, 2017
This one had my three year old cackling, thoroughly enjoying a story that celebrates and revels in being the "Bad Guy". I can't quite put my finger on it, but Yamada's illustrations remind me of all my favorite Disney villains– Cruella De Vil, Maleficent... He certainly shares their glee and determination! I love how Barnaby flips the "Bad Guy" narrative on its head with a twist ending we didn't see coming. (Also, note the mom's clever narrative woven in visually in the background...Sneaky!)
November 26, 2017
This story was a fun take on a brother who is the bad guy and why and what happens at the end that is a twist. It is fun with events from a child's perspective of things and adults not involved. My children loved the inside cover pages and pointed out the two icons for each child in the story. Interesting what reading aloud to children and what they found after each of 5 readings in two days. They loved the details the illustrator made.
June 29, 2017
This Pixar-esque picture book does a wonderful job exploring what it means to be "bad": it means trapping all the superheros in a laundry-basket-like cage, it means eating your sister's spaghetti brain, and it means going to the library and checking out books titled KNOT GOOD. It also means subverting expectations in wonderful, unexpected ways.
July 7, 2017
I love a book where the pictures and words have equal weight in telling the story! In BAD GUY, a young boy describes all the ways in which he's the "bad guy," but Yamada's illustrations hint that someone else is hatching a sinister plot. My kids loved this and got quite a chuckle from the ending...as did I!
August 2, 2017
This bad buy shows us his bad behavior on each day of the week.
Clever ending even took me by surprise! I look forward to reading this aloud to my students.
Full color illustrations fill the pages with details. Don't miss the cover under the dust jacket!
Great book to show supporting details. "I am a bad guy." Then each page shows another reason why.
Clever ending even took me by surprise! I look forward to reading this aloud to my students.
Full color illustrations fill the pages with details. Don't miss the cover under the dust jacket!
Great book to show supporting details. "I am a bad guy." Then each page shows another reason why.
May 10, 2017
I love this whole concept of a little bad guy in the making, and that a bad guy can come in unlikely forms. Also, you have got to take off the jacket to look at the cover illustrations underneath! So funny!
May 17, 2017
Bad guys are sneaky, greedy, and well, bad. But they're also resourceful, ambitious (being bad is hard work!), and it turns out, respectful when they meet their match. This book is full of silly fun, with perfectly matched, action-filled illustrations.
July 11, 2017
Love the humor in this story! As you read this book with your little ones, be sure that they are looking at the illustrations so that they are in on the joke! Can't wait to use this one with a story time.
July 10, 2018
Great book about a boy who is bad. He even goes to the library to get books on how to be bad (knot tying and magic tricks and such), but then he gets outsmarted by a badder bad "guy"....his sister. Loved it.
August 27, 2018
Fans of Despicable Me might enjoy this tale, about a bad guy in a "bad" family.
The illustrations are great.
The boy does not ever apologize for his misbehavior, but (spoiler alert), his relationship with his sister improves at the end.
The illustrations are great.
The boy does not ever apologize for his misbehavior, but (spoiler alert), his relationship with his sister improves at the end.
May 19, 2017
A clever picture book about imaginative play, mischief, and sibling rivalry. Mike Yamada's action-packed illustrations add many fun details to the story.
July 23, 2017
Fun patterns that switch, and a gender surprise at the end!
September 3, 2017
My kids loved this one! So much to talk about and look at in the pictures. And gotta love the ending!
November 27, 2017
A little boy does all he can to be "a bad guy", tormenting and scaring his sister.
Revenge is sweet, literally, in this story.
Great illustrations.
Revenge is sweet, literally, in this story.
Great illustrations.
January 4, 2018
It had me hooked from the first page because as we all know every villain needs a white, fluffy cat.
August 30, 2018
Great twist at the end. VERY fun!
August 24, 2022
In 'Bad guy' by Hannah Barnaby and Mike Yamada, we watch a young boy as he goes through his week being a bad guy, hatching evil plots that usually involve the unwilling participation of his sister. Until he gets caught in her trap and learns that bad guys can be girls too.
Great illustrations add to the story and raise questions for the reader. Is that a bag of money his Mum is burying in the garden? Can you spot the toys involved in each scheme?
I love how a trip to the library is viewed as a source for evil plans, for both siblings, and the strong heroine who, without dialogue, proves she can be just as evil as her brother when she wants to be.
The first person narrative make it easy to read for anyone who hates doing voices, and it is a nice change from the superhero cycle of books that are around.
Great illustrations add to the story and raise questions for the reader. Is that a bag of money his Mum is burying in the garden? Can you spot the toys involved in each scheme?
I love how a trip to the library is viewed as a source for evil plans, for both siblings, and the strong heroine who, without dialogue, proves she can be just as evil as her brother when she wants to be.
The first person narrative make it easy to read for anyone who hates doing voices, and it is a nice change from the superhero cycle of books that are around.
October 17, 2019
A little boy takes pride in being a "bad guy." His sister runs when she sees him and he does dastardly deeds each day of the week. On Saturday, his family goes to the library and he gets books on new ideas to continue being a "bad guy." When they get home, his mom tells the brother and sister to "play nice." Well he gets started planning his next feat. Before he can follow through, his sister tricks him. The end states: "Not every bad guy is a guy."
Fun sibling rivalry story that K and 1 will like. It was fun seeing what different attacks he planned and I loved that they went to the library to learn...even if it was to learn "bad" tricks.
Good book to booktalk for students.
Fun sibling rivalry story that K and 1 will like. It was fun seeing what different attacks he planned and I loved that they went to the library to learn...even if it was to learn "bad" tricks.
Good book to booktalk for students.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2024
Bad guys are smart. Bad guys are crafty. But being a bad guy can have consequences ...
This was a cute little picture book. Not a lot of words, very simple story line, quick read. I really enjoyed the illustrations and thought they added a lot. Showcasing the imagination, his little visions were fun. The poor little sister Alice is featured in almost all his "bad guy" imaginings. It introduces books/the library as a good source for learning.
I personally loved the little twist at the end. I should be totally anticipated that, but not the exact phrasing, which made me laugh.
This was a cute little picture book. Not a lot of words, very simple story line, quick read. I really enjoyed the illustrations and thought they added a lot. Showcasing the imagination, his little visions were fun. The poor little sister Alice is featured in almost all his "bad guy" imaginings. It introduces books/the library as a good source for learning.
I personally loved the little twist at the end. I should be totally anticipated that, but not the exact phrasing, which made me laugh.
May 17, 2017
Would be fun to read aloud. Kids will enjoy seeing the shenanigans of the "bad guy" brother. I very much appreciated the . Good tie-ins with superhero/villain tropes.
May 15, 2017
Loved this
May 27, 2017
Lots of little kids will love this story about being a "bad guy". I adored the twist ending!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews