This was silly and I liked the story!

Rating: 4.5
Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon
Summary: This book is about Molly Lou Melon, a first grader who is different from everyone else. She has always been encouraged by her grandmother to accept who she is and be the best version of herself. Molly leaves her town, her school, her friends and her grandmother. She attends a new school and gets picked on by one of her classmates. She ignores the drama and focuses on the other relationships she has made in the classroom.
Themes: The themes shown in this book are believing in yourself, uniqueness, self-esteem, and standing up for yourself.
Personal Story: This book shows confidence in yourself. It shows a big impact on what others think about you. I think this is an important message for students to hear and I believe that students will appreciate themselves and live a positive life. Students will understand that uniqueness is an okay thing and students that feel out of place can stand tall and build confidence in themselves.
Recommend this Book: I recommend this book to early adolescence students (ages 6 to 10). I think that this book provides a great life lesson that most students can uphold. That students can keep their head up high when challenges face them. Also to stand tall when conflict approaches you. I think this is a good introductory book to introduce the concept of bullying.

Molly is a young girl with many things that make her different. Despite her short stature and unpleasant voice, she is able to live happily with herself thanks to the guiding wisdom of her grandmother. When she has to move and attend a new school, a bully takes aim at Molly. She keeps on with her positive nature and is able to change the bully’s opinion.

I think the idea behind the book is a nice wholesome one. Self acceptance and positivity in the face of adversity are nice lessons for children to learn. I just didn’t feel that this story showed them in a realistic or accessible way. It seemed like Molly never had any kind of personal struggle with the bullying. She was able to brush it off time and time again with no negative feelings. I would’ve preferred to see her falter a little and then regain her confidence, which would’ve made her much more relatable and realistic. I also didn’t like the illustration style, which was too cartoony and exaggerated for my taste.

Quinncey Sept. A favorite for girls age 6 !!

Molly Lou Melon is short and clumsy, has buck teeth, and “has a voice that sounds like a bullfrog being squeezed by a boa constrictor.” She doesn’t mind. Her grandmother has always told her to walk proud, smile big, and sing loud, and she takes that advice to heart. But then Molly Lou has to start in a new school and meets a horrid bully named Ronald Durkin who picks on her on the very first day. But Molly Lou Melon, thanks to her grandmother’s advice to “Sing out clear and strong and the world will cry tears of joy,” knows just what to do about that. It’s about a bully and a little girl, but I promise it’s not the story you think. But it does show that everyone has their gifts.

This is a very sweet story about being happy with yourself. This book reminds me of "I Like Myself" by Karen Beaumont (also illustrated by David Catrow). These two books could be used to compare and contrast, but could also be used for a lesson having children draw/write about things they like about themselves.

This adorable, lesser-known children's book would be great for a classroom read-aloud. Molly Lou Melon is feisty, and she resists the bullying and has confidence. She makes the most out of her differences and would be a fantastic role model for kids.

Take that, Ronald Durkin!

Text-to Teaching Connection

Molly Lou Melon is the story about a little girl who has a grandmother that has always believed in Molly. When Molly moves to a new school and is bullied by Ronald Durkin for being different, Molly remembers the things that her grandmother taught her: that she's different and that's OK. Molly Lou Melon is a fantastic book for teaching children about their differences and how to love themselves. This would be a good teaching moment to define what the students see as their different traits on paper and then share and explore each of these in a group setting.

This story teaches you that whoever you are, you are SPECIAL!

The author included creative words in the book such as “HONK” and “QUACK” to the story making it more fun to read. The illustrations were great, they contained bright vivid colors and were very detailed as well. One of the things I like about this book is that it conveys a wonderful message for young children. Molly Lou Melon was a tiny little girl who has buck teeth, is very clumsy, and has a very loud voice. No matter how “imperfect” she felt, her grandma let her know how she can turn those small things into amazing talents. Such as using her buck teeth to hold pennies. When she moved schools, she encountered a bully, Ronald, who would always say mean things about her, but instead of letting him bring her down, she showed him all the great things she could do. This is a great book to teach students that it is okay to be different because we are all special in our own way. As well as being kind to others and not being mean, especially because their words can really hurt the person. Throughout the book we can see character development for Ronald, the bully. He started off by being mean to Molly and then after seeing how she did not give in to his mean comments, at the end he gave her a penny for her teeth. I find this book really great to have in a classroom setting overall.

Amazing book for kids ..............loved it .....motivates Children.. .