A charming picture book about a giraffe who grows smaller when bullies. It’s a great resource to reach empathy and that words hurt and can make you feel small. I will be adding this title to my school library.
-Thanks to NetGallery for providing an ARC.

A beautifully illustrated book that explains to children the importance of understanding their feelings, and talking about them. Sometimes small words can make you feel less, and it's important to know how to work through those feelings. I highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, as well as the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

This is a delightful little picture book that gives all it promises and more. Little Gisbert is a very tall giraffe who is very happy doing all the things any child would love to do. But when his friends and schoolmates start to tease him, the words hurt his feelings and something shocking happens. He shrinks! Little by little the words said about him cause Gisbert to change.

This book allows for wonderful discussions about bullying, teasing, and unkind words. It will help to build empathy as children will care for this precious giraffe. What I love about the book is it shows children that they can trust their parents to help them navigate these hurtful experiences.

This is a great book for any child and should added into classrooms and libraries!

The publisher provided an ARC through Netgalley. I have voluntarily decided to read and review, giving my personal opinions and thoughts

I liked this story. It's a good one for littles about the harmfulness of bullying. The illustrations were really nice. Drove point home, I thought.

A wonderful story to teach children about accepting themselves for who they are. Gisbert is such a sweet story! This is perfect for a teacher to use when discussing bullying too! I love this story!

We’ve all felt like Gisbert at some point in our lives, this book helps teach a lesson in empathy and apology of action. Gisbert the giraffe feels the awkwardness of growing up. He internalizes his pain that is represented by his feeling of shrinking until he’s so small you have to wonder what will bring him out of his sadness. Luckily his friends realize the error of their ways and apologize through their kindness and actions. I love the message in this book and I look forward to using it in my classroom.

This was a really cute, sweet book utilizing animals to tell a story about playground bullying. What I appreciated about it was that the "bullies" weren't even stereotypical big, mean, scary kids — they were Gisbert's friends, who didn't realize how much they were hurting his feelings by teasing him or talking behind his back. A lot of children aren't going to understand what it means or how to react that first time one of their friends hurts them, and this would be a great book to recommend to those little ones to teach them how to handle the situation.

This cute and heartwarming story focuses on a giraffe who feels like he keeps shrinking every time his friends say something that makes him sad. The brilliance in the book is captured by two sentences that repeat throughout, following each incident. Each time he shrinks, we read, “No one else could see it, but he could.” And each time his parents ask him if he's okay and he says he's fine, he thinks to himself, “I don’t know what’s going on.” So much is packed into both of these sentences, and they anchor the theme and the experience of the book. The first emphasizes how loneliness and sadness feels, making you feel small even when others around you can see the smallness. The second acknowledges that children often don't know how to explain or understand how they're feeling or how to put words to it. Overall, the book can help kids recognize what their feelings are when they’re teased or bullied — they’re hurt and losing their self-esteem and confidence, but, again, they may not know how to put that into words.

Since the parents keep asking Gilbert what’s wrong and he keeps demurring, the book also subtly reminds parents that sometimes it’s necessary to dig a bit deeper to find out what might eating away at your child even when they’re trying to hide it. The parents do this -- they persist in asking him what's wrong and eventually are able to find out through their persistence.

The repetition of these two sentences drives home better than the repeated descriptions of teasing how relentless it can feel to face that kind of treatment day after day. The sentences simultaneously become tiresome and more powerful each time they’re repeated. Meanwhile, the teasing behaviors themselves are — intentionally, I assume — not really that bad individually. Each one would be fairly minor on its own, but as the parent of an 8-year-old, I recognize clearly how each of those little cuts feels bigger and bigger to Gisbert, illustrated cleverly by the way he shrinks even more inches with each additional insult. (His first shrinking is only a couple inches, but later on it's by more than a foot.) What’s especially remarkable about this book is how economically Jochen Weeber captures what depression is, what can lead to it, and how quickly it can come over someone. Just two short sentences (on Sunday in the book) convey everything you--and children--need to know about depression and how it feels.

Closer to the end, it becomes clear why the offenses were likely to be made fairly small — Gisbert learns from his mother that it’s okay to tell others their words were hurtful, thereby presenting a solution that’s empowering to children. His parents also emphasize his ability to come to them, again reminding children that they have advocates who care about them.

Overall, the message is conveyed in rhythmic languages with simple, helpful repeating phrases that never become didactic or heavy-handed. The illustrations are simple watercolor that capture the gradually worsening emotions of Gisbert nicely. I definitely recommend this book.

This is a great book to show kids that their words have consequences! It also does a great job of giving kids who are feeling small like Gisbert a character to identify with. I really like the illustrations and can definitely see myself recommending this to my library kiddos in the future.

This is a great book for teaching bullying and friendship. The illustrations are great & support the text.

This is a wonderfully illustrated, silly, yet powerful picture book about friendship. Gisbert is a young giraffe that gets his feelings hurt when some of the animals make fun of him. He doesn’t tell anyone about it at first, he just feels as if he’s shrinking. Eventually his friends realize what they’ve done when Gisbert isn’t playing with them anymore.
This is a great book for preschoolers on friendship and learning that we are all different, and that’s ok!
I know my preschoolers will love this adorable giraffe!
Thank you to Flyaway Books and NetGalley for this 5 star picture book! My opinions are my own.
This will appear on my blog today, Wednesday December 19, 2018.
www.colecampfireblog.com
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A genuine book on the power of word to hurt and to heal. A young giraffe finds himself shrinking and resolve is found by trusting his parents to shelter and understand. Sometimes one unkind thing can be tolerated but compounded by others it is hard to be resilient.

I enjoyed this book with a positive message. It shows kids how words can hurt and make others feel smaller. The one thing that bothered me was that Gisbert wouldn’t tell his parents what was upsetting him the whole week and stayed home from school for another week before he finally told his parents what happened. Kids should definitely be encouraged to tell parents or a teacher when things are bothering them so they can learn to deal emotions. The illustrations were cute.

The illustrations are very cute in this book. The message of mean words hurting and making Gisbert feel small is a good theme for young children. I think the shrinking analogy is a good visual to understand how the feelings can affect a child. As a parent, I wish part of the solution wasn't that Gisbert stayed home from school for a week before talking to his Mom and Dad about what was bothering him. I always prefer books that encourage the child reader to speak to their parents right away about something that bothers them.

Over all, a positive message and nice animal illustrations which appealed to my 6- and 8-year-old.

Thank you NetGalley and Flyaway Books for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #WhatInTheWorldIsWrongWithGisbert

Gisbert, a giraffe, faces daily obstacles which take a toll on him. Good story for younger readers about dealing with adversity and problem solving. Thanks Flyaway Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this title.

"Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you." was an often repeated phrase when I grew up and every time I heard I thought it was wrong. Words can hurt people. Words can stick with people for a long time. In "What in the World is Wrong with Gisbert," Weeber tackles teaching children that words can hurt people, even if that wasn't your intention. I thought the book did a great job of explaining how words can hurt through a child's eyes.

Highly enjoyed this book. It is a pretty good book in helping students understand how their words can hurt others. It also, helps those students who have trouble voicing how something makes them feel. I liked how our character, Gisbert, felt bad because of his friends saying mean things/teasing him. However, the whole time he isn't sure what it is he is feeling and can't say how he feels. By the end of the book, his friends welcome him back and he realizes what is happening and things turn out right. The story tells us how sometimes people may hurt our feelings and we should tell them that what they are doing or saying is making us upset. Sometimes we don't realize it. I will be recommending this to some of my principals at my different schools. great use for teaching students how we should watch our words and actions because they can hurt even if we don't mean to.

It is hard being different. And Gisbert was proud of being tall but words do hurt and when Gisbert is bullied by his peers he begins to shrink. This is when the other animals begin to notice that something is happening to Gisbert. The negative comments and hurtful words are affecting not only his heart and mind but his body. His friends begin to step up and protect Gisbert and this helps him build his self-confidence back. Gisbert is back to his wonderful tall self.

Charming story and pictures about a young giraffe new to school life and dealing with teasing statement from classmates who do not realize the effect of their words.

A strong moral.
I shared this book with my three year old granddaughter, who was probably just at the lower end of the age group that it is intended for. She enjoyed the beautiful illustrations and listened intently to the story, but she has yet to start nursery and fully understand the message behind this book.

Older children will understand about hurtful comments; some will have been on the receiving end, some will have thoughtlessly hurt others. I feel strongly that learning about the damage that such comments cause, at a young age, will guide many to be more considerate. Those on the receiving end are encouraged by the book to share the hurt with parents or teachers - a problem shared is a problem halved.

This would make a great book for classroom discussion and also for children to borrow and take home to share with parents. A valuable addition to any children's library.