When Kids Act up A Lot, They may get a visit from BetterNot!
This series is the story of BetterNot, a magical character who arrives in a flash to aid parents, coaches and teachers by helping children learn valuable lessons about fairness, honesty, kindness and good manners in ways that fits each child’s poor behavior.
The first book in the series is BetterNot! And the Tale of Bratsville. (Read my review HERE.)It’s about a town filled with very naughty children like Larry Liar, Rebecca Robber and Lilly Loudmouth. Their parents could not make them behave no matter what they tried until the magical creature named BetterNot rose from his magical, bubbling purple swamp to come to their aid.
The second book in the series is BetterNot! And the Tale of Brat Sports. It’s about a sports field where some children do not play fair or try their best and so they need lessons in sportsmanship. BetterNot arrives at the request of team coaches to teach the children about manners and morals in sports.
The third book in the series is BetterNot! And the Tale of Brat School. It’s about a school where some of the children are disrupting other students and are not trying their very best. BetterNot arrives at the request of teachers to teach their students about morals and manners in school.
Reading books has always been one of my son’s favorite activities. Now that he is 13, he reads just as much as he did when we read together at night. But now he reads books of all types- anime, science fiction, fantasy and historical fiction.
Just because he is 13, doesn’t mean he never reads picture books- comics are graphic novels, and he has a big collection of those. I even managed to talk him into reading BetterNot! And the Tale of Brat Sports out loud. (He has a great reading voice.) Listening to him read to me, brought back memories of our favorite books. I’m sure he loved this 2nd BetterNot book, he took it to school with him so he could read it to his 2nd grade reading buddy.
Teaching my son good sportsmanship wasn’t easy. Being an only child, he wasn’t used to losing. I remember him acting like Kathy Can’t Do- he didn’t think he could do push-ups, and with that attitude, he couldn’t. I remember him acting like Brad Bad Sport many times. He would just keep saying- “it’s not fair- they cheated,” and would start crying. It was so frustrating. It took the patience of a soccer coach and his Dad and me to get him to understand that playing sports wasn’t about winning or losing, it was about having fun and teamwork.
The BetterNot series remind me of Dr. Seuss books! The creativity, imagination and rhyming make the book fun to read and listen to. BetterNot creates fun ways to deal with bad sportsmanship. One of my favorites is Daisy Lazy- BetterNot says: “So you better not be lazy, or you will become rooted like Daisy.” He teaches them lessons that you will remember, but not have nightmares about!
I strongly believe that rhyming books make learning easy and fun. Using rhyme helps keep the attention of children and adults alike. It makes them WANT to here the next part because they can’t wait to hear which word the author chose for the rhyme. The author does a great job of keeping kids turning those pages to find out what’s next.
There are so many things I love about BetterNot! and the Tale of Brat Sports. I love that BetterNot always knew the right thing to say for every situation. BetterNot teaches children good sportsmanship through imagination, rhymes and fun! If you think that BetterNot is a scary creature, he’s not. BetterNot is like a funny combination of a genie and the boogie man.
Overall, I highly recommend BetterNot! And the Tale of Brat Sports for your children or grandchildren, nieces or nephews ages 3 to 10. BetterNot creates magical fun that encourages our children to become better sports, a lesson EVERYONE needs to learn!
About the Author:
Gene Del Vecchio is the author of seven books. His first young adult novel, The Pearl of Anton, was honored with a star review in Booklist, while the sequel, The Sword of Anton, was honored with the Young Adults’ Choices Award from the International Reading Association.
Be sure to follow him on Facebook and on Twitter! Get your own BetterNot Books on Amazon!
Don’t forget to enter the giveaway HERE for BOTH books 1 and 2 and a $25 Amazon GC!
How do you reinforce good sportsmanship with your children? Let us know in the comments below.