I loved reading The Brand New Kid by Katie Couric as it was one of my favorite books as a child. One aspect I loved about the book was how it rhymed. I thought that this was an interesting way to write the book. Even though the end of each sentence didn’t rhyme, Couric still made sure the line ended with a rhyming word and then the sentence would still continue. This added a nice flow to the book while you read. Another aspect of the book that I loved was the message. When the new student came to school, he was made fun of and no one was friends with him. However, when one student reached out to him and started to get to know him, all of the other students followed along and then everyone was friends. This is an important message of friendship that students need to know. Lastly, I loved the illustrations. They were very clear and colorful, which added depth to the book. Overall, I loved reading The Brand New Kid by Katie Couric. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I liked the book because the plot was easy to follow. Specifically it followed Lazlo's perspective through his journey. It begun with him entering classroom 204, Miss Kincaid's class. It transitioned into his difficulty making friends with Ricky Jensen calling him a fool in the cafeteria and ended with Ellie telling the class all the great things about Lazlo. I didn't enjoy the rhyming element. It sounded forced and I found it distracted from the message of the book. An example being, "He may look slightly strange, have an accent and stuff, but if you knew him, you'd like him, it wouldn't be tough." That quote was taken from the ending of the book and I feel like it needs to be dissected to be understood. The big idea of this book is to see that even if someone is different from you they have their own strengths, and everyone doesn't need to be the same. ( )

A new boy is judged by his classmates by his physical appearance as they decided he didn't fit in. Many weeks later Ellie takes a sad situation and makes it better by inviting him to play.

I really enjoyed this picture book. It was extremely touching and really meaningful. This book is about a student named Lazlo S. Gasky, who moved from a different town and has a different accent. He is bullied by his classmates for looking different and struggles to make friends the first few weeks of school. He is tripped in the lunch room and his food flies everywhere. After school, Ellie sees Lazlo's mother crying and finds out she might pull him out of school because he has not been fitting it or accepted. Ellie then feels bad and asks Lazlo to play after school on Thursday. I love that this book had illustrations that really made you feel like you were a part of the story. They really enhanced the story and made me really appreciate the setting. Also, the characters were really well-developed and showed different personalities. Finally, the plot really kept me on my toes because I wanted to find out what was going to happen next. I wanted to know if Lazlo was going to make any friends and if his classmates were going to finally accept him, even if he was different. The main theme of this book is to never judge a book by its cover and that no one deserves to be bullied. I feel that everyone should understand that and give people a chance. ( )

This book tells a story about a new kid in the second grade. He is bullied for the first few days of school and one of his classmates overhears his mother talking about transferring schools. She decides to be his friend while the other students are not accepting of their friendship. This book is a great book to show how bullying can hurt one's feelings and how that even though we are different we can accept each other's differences. I would use this book on the first day of school as an introduction to no bullying rules.