Snail Started It

by Katja Reider, Angela Von Roehl (Illustrator), Rosemary Lanning (Translator)

Sticks and stones will break your bones, and names will sometimes hurt you! This charming circular story demonstrated how unkind words can damage self-esteem and kind ones restore it. It all starts when Snail calls Pig fat. "I like being big and round," Pig replies. "I'm happy just the way I am." But Snail's remarks do upset Pig, so much that when she meets Rabbit she insults him. He is turn insults Dog; Dog insults spider; Spider insults Goose; and, coming full circle, Goose insults Snail. Since Snail started it all, it's up to him to set things right, initiating a similar cycle of apologies.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Library Binding

First published March 1, 1997

Reviews

[Mela · Rating 1 out of 5]

sort of obselete in how it conveys this message

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting tale about how mean words can really hurt someone's feelings and that a sincere apology can go a long way to erase the damage done. The narrative is entertaining, with a lot of repetition and a hit-you-on-the-top-of-the-head morality, and the illustrations are colorful. We discovered this book because it was recommended by the author in the book, Little Girls Can Be Mean: Four Steps to Bully-proof Girls in the Early Grades. We enjoyed reading this story together.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great way to make children, or anyone for that matter, become aware of how teasing and bulling affects people and the snowball-effect that it often has. I love that not only does the story come back around to the snail, the original bully, but the snail then goes and apologizes to its victim which creates the snowball-effect again, but in a positive manner. I also love how the author makes it a point to explain in the end that all the animals were happy to be themselves even after realizing that they weren't "perfect."

[Sally Bruesewitz]

By calling Pig fat, Snail starts a chain of insults among the other animals that eventually catches up with him and convinces him that each animal is right in liking himself just the way he is. AR 3.3

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book to use for writing when explaining a circular plot. It also shows how one unkind remark can cause a lot of different people to have a bad day.

[Dani · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book modeled behavior that I didn't really want my kids emulating.

[Anna]

Can discuss in terms of whether the words being said are bucket dippers or bucket fillers.