Written by Taro Yashima
Picture book 5
When I first started to read this book and the children were being mean to the little boy, I was not very happy. I was not sure where the book was going. It made me feel bad for the young boy, because he was being teased. I was teased when I was about his age too. I understand what it feels like and there are other students who can relate to him as well. The students in the school call him Chibi, which in Japan means small. He is considered different because of his fascination with bugs and the environment and the fact that he is not interested with school. They do not realize what Chibi is going through until the end of their schooling days. The realized how far he has to walk to school each day to get to school. They all felt bad for making fun of him, when they did not even take the chance to get to know him. The illustrations in the story also go along well with the text. When Chilbi was upset in the classroom and did not want to see the other students teasing him, he would cross his eyes. The illustrations in the book on that page were also in double vision. I really liked that they incorporated that detail into the illustrations. There was nothing that I did not like from this book. The lesson behind the story was good and it was also portrayed in a way that everyone could relate to either by being the person getting teased or the person teasing. 
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