No!

No! (2009) by David McPhail is a powerfully written wordless picture book for children. It's a statement about how violent our world is and how, in order to change it, we must each stand up for what's right, beginning with the youngest child.

In the story, a young boy has written a letter to the president of his country. He witnesses several scenes of violence on his way to the mail drop. Upon arriving at the mail drop, our young character is confronted with a bully who is ready to beat him up for no apparent reason. The main character stands up to the bully. He says, "NO!" His simple one word message starts the world moving in a better direction, so to speak, and our young character sees a much different world on his walk home.

The framing for this story is interesting in that the only scenes that are not framed are those scenes that depict violence inflicted upon the character by the bully. The scene where he tells the bully a loud, clear, confident "NO!" seems to jump off the page because the author doesn't even shade the background of that particular scene.

While No! would be a great book for my kindergartners any time throughout the year, I feel like it would be particularly suited for the beginning of the year. Without giving away too much, the end of the story deals with rules. This would be an excellent springboard into class rules. It would also be a great teaching point on dealing with bullies. I would love to ask my students how else are young character could have dealt with the bully and, if he had, how might it change the outcome of the book?