What Happens Next

On March 15th run to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of What Happens Next by Susan Hughes and Carey Sookocheff. Better yet head to your favourite bookseller and preorder a copy. This book is an incredibly important book for our young people and in my opinion should be in every home, library, and classroom. What an incredible story to share about bullying. There are no euphemisms, there are no inferences to be made, it is straightforward and such a beautiful way of explaining bullying behaviours and perhaps offering a suggestion about how to stand up for oneself to curb bullying behaviour. Parents: read this book!! I will shout it from the rooftops, READ THIS BOOK! What an excellent example of how we should all respond to disclosures about bullying. I find that it can be an incredibly hard topic to navigate. How do you keep a child safe while also trying to empower them to stand up. How do you teach a child who is the bully to recognize we all have a different way of looking at the world and we all have to share this space together, so we should find a way to coexist together. Finally, how do we empower the bystanders to help and step in when they see someone being hurt.
What Happens Next is the first book I have read that gives straightforward, real life information in a way that is kind, loving, and understanding.
Carey Sookocheff’s art in this book is perfect! I love her use of simple drawings with a muted and simple four main colours to tell the story of the bullier and the bullied. His book is not one that needs incredibly detailed illustrations in many colours. It’s perfectly executed to have the most impact, to help the reader understand the dull and gloomy feelings of being bullied and the lightness and colour that can come once a resolution is found. What Happens Next is not going to be the answer to all of the bullying problems out there but at least it is one place to start, a little light in a terrible and dark time.

This book is the perfect introduction to bullying. The illustrations are bold and emotive and I think the text is a great way to discuss empathy. While it isn't mentioned, it could be inferred that the child being bullied has some special needs and I think that it creates an honor portrayal of how a child in elementary or middle school may be shunned- those quiet little comments and pushes that adults don't always catch. I can see this fitting perfectly into a guidance lesson regarding bullying for grades K-2.


-Thank you to NetGalley and OwlKids for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.-

Such a simple and powerful story. Teachers need to make this part of their back to school read-aloud sets. It's perfect for morning meetings and lends itself perfectly to a lesson on how characters evolve throughout a text. Can't wait to share this with my students!

Excellent. I love the format of the sentences and how they all start with "What..." This is a great addition to any collection of books about bullying. I'll definitely be purchasing this for my middle school library.

Bullying is such a big problem in schools today and this book does a good job of addressing this issue. I liked how it explained why people bully others and showed a good way to handle it. The fact that this book is narrated by the young person being bullied, gives insight into how they feel about being bullied and how difficult it is to tell anyone. But, then once they do tell, they are able to understand more about the person that is bullying and how to address them.

Received this via NetGalley. I do believe that getting to know someone can help eliminate some bullying; as others have mentioned, it might not be as "easy" as this book portrays, but in the case of two girls... it might. By being presented with the topics of genomes, water, and astronomy, the bully may realize that what really matters to the protagonist won't really threaten her. I do think the bully may think twice before confronting her again. I found it interesting that I read this right after an episode of "Young Sheldon" dealt with bullying; this book somewhat features a female version of Sheldon.

This is a wonderful, simple picture book. It's spare, yet effective illustrations show the effects of bullying on a young child. The bully always bullies, the bystanders always do nothing, until Mom steps in to offer advice.
What follows is a kind of resolution to the problem, although we see at the end, this may be a long time coming.
Every elementary school library should own a copy of this title.

I'm a parent of a twice-exceptional child and I can tell you bullying is a real thing in our home. I love the way the parent and child discuss what is happening at school, how it feels to be tormented (psychologically) and how the child learns to confront the bully without having to become best friends in the end since that rarely happens in the real world. I will recommend this to other parents and teachers.

I simple and insightful book about bullying. Told through minimalistic pictures and easy to understand concepts, this story shows how it feels to be bullied. And maybe, how to turn a bully into a classmate with a name and a smile.

The problem with bullies is that each one is different, the same way all babies are different, and the advice of how to work with one, might not work with the other.

The advice the child is given in this case, is to try to engage with the bully. And, this might work. I have heard stories of people who have turned the teasing into jokes, or agreed with the bully to throw the bully off. In this case, scientific facts light the way, and there are hints that this has worked to keep the bully from bulling the child.

Even if this doesn't work all the time, at least it keeps the child from living in fear. Fear just makes things worse.


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Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This is a great introductory book for kids about bullying. It can be hard to talk to younger kids about this subject but there are a lot of great illustrations that go along with the text. This would be a great resource for parents & teachers alike.

I received an advanced reader copy of this novel from Netgalley for a honest review.

This is a great book to read with a class or your child if you believe someone is being unkind to them/him/her at school. It is a sweet book and will lend to discussing how bullying makes someone feel.

What Happens Next was a unique take on bullying. I've read quite a few books on bullying. Often in picture books, there is a bully who is mean, a victim who seeks help and in the end everyone gets along and things are great. While that may happen in some situations, it isn't the norm. What Happens Next shows a child in a bullying situation, their mom helps them deal with the situation. In the end, the bully and victim aren't best friends, but you feel there has been something accomplished. It was much more realistic.
I received a digital review copy from NetGally. I would like to purchase a print copy of this book for my elementary library.

Wonderful, uplifting story of friendship and dealing with bullies! Great read for early ages for BOTH sides of the story.