The Meanest Birthday Girl

The Meanest Birthday Girl
Josh Schneider
Boston: Clarion Books, 2013, Ages 9-11

This story is about a mean girl, Dana, who got everything she ever wanted for her birthday. Dana was very mean to this boy Anthony, so he decided to give her a white elephant for her birthday. This elephant took a lot of hard work to take care of and then this girl, Gertrude, started to be mean to her like she was to Anthony. When it was Gertrude's birthday, Dana decided to give the elephant to her as a present like Anthony did. 

The author used some dialogue with each character throughout the book. The book was separated into 5 chapters and each had its on little story for each chapter. The title for each described what that chapter was going to be about. 

The illustrations were very nice and colorful. Every picture on each page told the story and let you visualize what it actually looked like. The pictures really made the story come to life. The pictures showed great detail with the exact emotions and what the elephant looked like. 

I really enjoyed this book. I liked how the author used an elephant to stop bullying. The elephant represented hard work and the time it took to take care of it. I think the elephant made Dana realize that she needs stop being mean to others because she didn't want to be treated that way either. I would recommend this book to upper elementary lower middle school around 9 to 11 year olds. This would be a great book to show kids that being mean to others is not the right thing. Also, it shows that if someone is being mean to you that you don't do the exact thing back. Being the bigger person is the right way to go. 

Reviewed by Josh Schneider