Red

Belgian writer De Kinder watches as a child agonizes about whether to intervene when a bully torments her schoolmate. Tommy blushes easily, especially when people mention it, and the unnamed narrator starts the trouble herself: “You’re... you’re blushing,” she says, pointing. Others join in: “Do it again! Do it again!” they taunt. De Kinder’s brushed ink and gouache artwork makes plain the mean-spiritedness of their whispering. But then a boy named Paul pushes the teasing into genuine cruelty, laughing loudly and pushing Tommy. “I want Paul to stop right now,” the girl thinks in desperation as the schoolyard wall and the buildings beyond take on the red of Tommy’s cheeks. “I’m scared of Paul,” she confesses. “What I want to do is scream really loud.... And yell that it has to stop. But I stay silent.” When a teacher appears, the girl finds the courage to raise her hand (“Did anyone see what happened?”), an action that prods others to join her. “I’m not all on my own,” she realizes. A useful opening into discussions about taking a stand when others do wrong. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)