Bootsie Barker Bites

by Barbara Bottner

Book Overview

Seeing bully Bootsie Barker get her comuppance is guaranteed to make young readers smile.

It's the worst when Bootsie Barker comes to my house. Bootsie's the one who pulls my hair and tears my books. She hates Charlene, my pet salamander. She says that I'm a turtle and she's a turtle-eating dinosaur.

Uh-oh, I think I hear a car pulling up. That's her now Eeek

"The colorful cartoon and wash drawings, filled with amusing detail,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0698114272
• ISBN13: 9780698114272
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 8.0" x 10.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

My All Time Favorite Book!

This would have to be my favorite book ever, I remember begging my mother to read it to me when i was little,and I even memorized the whole thing. To this day i can quote my favorite lines. This is a book that i highly reccomend for anyone and their children. I am in my teens now and I still enjoy going back and reading "Bootsie Barker Bites"

Bootsie RULES!

Whenever I read this story to a group of children, I'm a librarian, they're on the edge of their seats waiting for the next horror from Bootsie. Everyone knows a Bootsie, has been a Bootsie, or lives with a Bootsie sibling. The ending is satisfying in that Bootsie doesn't reform but her victim uses her intelligence to solve her problem. (With some help from mom) A good read-aloud and a wonderful story.

Unusual plot, engaging book

Bootsie Barker Bites tells the familiar tale of the uncongenial playmate, but it provides a much les conventional, and much more satisfying, ending. The story is interesting, funny, and encompasses a useful lesson about coping with mean kids.The narrator of Bootsie Barker Bites hates playing with Bootsie, but she has to, because Bootsie's mother is her mother's best friend. Bootsie is mean - she treats the narrator very badly, breaks her toys, tries to hurt her pet lizard, and claims she is a dinosaur who will eat the narrator right up. The narrator grits her teeth and bears it until she discovers Bootsie will be staying at her house for the night; then she thinks up a plan that turns the tables on her unpleasant playmate.Most authors would have forced an unrealistic but ultrasweet ending from this plot by having Bootsie and the narrator become friends. Barbara Bottner knows that isn't how real life usually works, so she provides a different ending. Bootsie doesn't change; the narrator's ability to cope with Bootsie changes. In addition to being thoroughly satisfying, this ending gives kids a small, easy lesson on dealing with difficult people.The illustrations in the book are energetic and fun. The artist has done an excellent job of making Bootsie look like the archetypal evil toddler. And the small details of the pictures - the toy turtle on every page, the changing expressions of the stuffed animals, etc. - help hold kids' attention and make the book fun to reread. Overall, this is a solidly entertaining children's book that contains, but not does not force, a message. Bootsie Barker Bites is fun for reading out loud or privately; kids enjoy it, and so do adults.

Wonderful - my daughter memorized the book!

What a wonderful well written book. My 3 year old son and 4 year old daughter have memorized the book. They now read it to me. The words between the main character and Bootsie the bully are creative and my children love it. They now know what a salamander is and what a paleontologist does. Buy this book!

Humor mixed with manners and education... excellent!

I'm not sure who was more entertained, my kids or me. Funny, yet full of teaching points about manners, behavior and getting along with others. My kids loved it so much, I bought copies for my brother and sister-in-law who are both elementary school teachers for their personal library.Highly recommended to anyone and everyone who has preschoolers and older...