Heartwarming, Funny, and Delightful!
5 out of 5 stars
A short “tail” on bullying and stereotyping, two things that need to be addressed at elementary school, and this book does a marvelous job doing that, thanks to Clarabelle’s glorious idea. I highly recommend this to parents and teachers of elementary school children everywhere! An excellent way to start the conversation about these 2 very important topics.
– Nelson F. Gonzalez (https://nelsongonzalezwrites.com/)
I loved your story for children ‘Clarabelle Comes Clean’. The story had a nice moral against bullying and the characters were very relatable. I also enjoyed Stuart Weasel’s character from the TV Channel. The illustrations were superb! Overall, a splendid first effort at a children’s book by the author Timothy J. Verret. This book deserves a place on every school library shelf.
– Gopi Menon (https://GopiMenonAuthor.com)
STORY SUMMARY: Clarabelle Pig was drinking from the school water fountain when Barrett Frog hopped in front of her, blocking her. He stood with Andrea Fox and Ferdinand Rabbit, all laughing. “Pigs shouldn’t drink out of fountains!” said Barrett, leaping and chuckling.“They’re too dirty,” Andrea said, wrapping her gorgeous tail around her neck.“Oink, oink, stinky piggy!” chimed in Ferdinand, holding his whiskered nose.Clarabelle shook her head and stomped off to her next class. “I’m so tired of those meanies saying pigs are muddy and smelly,” she thought. “I’m gonna prove them wrong, once and for all.”Find out how Clarabelle stops the hurtful name-calling in its tracks in Clarabelle Comes Clean, a wonderful addition to humane education classwork and lessons in bullying and societal stereotyping. The book is perfect for ages 6 and up, and the illustrations keep the attention of younger students too in parental, library, and classroom read-alongs.
AUTHOR’S NOTES: I wrote CLARABELLE COMES CLEAN from many vantage points. First and foremost, the children’s book is about how animals have feelings. That is VERY important for me to get across, as I am an animal welfare advocate and I raise my voice for the voiceless. The writing of this children’s book afforded me that opportunity. Secondly, the book deals with two issues that are very important to me: Bullying and stereotyping. I suffered from much bullying in my school years, and it caused me to have a very low image of myself. I also fell victim (yet, in the end, VICTORIOUS!) to stereotyping, in the sense that because I was very shy and sensitive and withdrawn, it gave the bullies an invitation to take out their frustrations on me. I would like to say I had the last laugh, as I wonder how many of those bullies can say that they have published a book! I’m not trying to boast, but simple to say that it is often in our struggles of the past that we aim for a better and brighter future.
I hope you will buy CLARABELLE COMES CLEAN and share it with yourself, your children, or anyone else you feel might benefit from the kindness and peacefulness displayed by the beloved bullied pig of the story, Clarabelle. If you would like an autographed copy of the book, please contact me here or at my email address: firstname.lastname@example.org. I promise to do everything in my power to get an autographed copy to you to show my appreciation for your purchase of this book and your validation of the book’s message of kindness to all God’s Creatures.
Many blessings and much love always,
Timothy J. Verret and Clarabelle