Chester Raccoon and the Big Bad Bully by Audrey Penn

C hester Raccoon stood in front of his tree hollow looking gloomy. His younger brother Ronny and his best friend Cassy stood beside him.
    â€œWe don’t want to go to school,” Chester told his mother. “We want to stay home with you. Please. May we stay home with you?”
    â€œI thought you liked school,” said Mrs. Raccoon.
    â€œWe do,” said Chester.
    â€œThen why do you want to stay home with me?”

    Chester lowered his head and shuffled his foot. “. . . er’s . . . a . . . ully . . . a . . . ool,” he explained in a quiet muffled voice.
    Mrs. Raccoon reached out and tenderly lifted Chester’s head with her hand. “What did you say?”
    Chester gazed into his mother’s loving eyes and gulped. “There’s a bully at school.”
    â€œAnd he’s horrible!” cried Ronny. “He’s big and mean.”
    â€œAnd he has giant claws on his hands and feet!” wailed Cassy.
    â€œAnd fangs!” screeched Chester. “And fire comes out of his nose! And if you get in his way, he’ll step on your face and squash you like a bug!”
    â€œLike a bug!” echoed Ronny.

    â€œOh my! He sounds very scary,” said Mrs. Raccoon. “Bullies can be very difficult! I’ll tell you what,” she told the frightened cubs. “I’ll walk you to school and back. Then we can decide what to do about this bully.”
    When the raccoons reached the school tree, Chester tugged on his mother’s arm. “That’s him! That’s the bully.” He pointed a trembling finger at a badger standing by the pond. “Isn’t he awful? Isn’t he the most scary-looking bully you’ve ever seen?”

    â€œOh my, yes,” whispered Mrs. Raccoon. “But I’m sure we can work things out.” Before leaving, she gently fluffed Chester’s mask and playfully tweaked Ronny’s nose.
    â€œBe brave,” she told the cubs and gave each of her sons a comforting kiss in their palms.

    After school, Chester, Ronny, and Cassy told Mrs. Raccoon how the badger bullied his classmates at recess.
    â€œFirst he snatched a ball away from the squirrel and popped it.
    â€œThen he climbed atop the jungle gym and squashed the opossum’s fingers until the opossum fell to the ground.
    â€œThen he spooked a doe, who bumped into the skunk, who got so scared that he sprayed and stunk. Even Owl Teacher couldn’t get him to behave.”

    â€œSometimes animals are bullies because they don’t know any other way to be,” explained Mrs. Raccoon. “But I think there’s a way you can change things. Go get your friends and bring them to our tree. I want to share a story.”
    A few minutes later, a crowd of eager young forest animals stood at the base of Chester’s tree house, and Mrs. Raccoon began her tale.

    â€œOnce, a long time ago, there was a secret forest sprinkled in yellow stones. The stones were round and polished, big and little, and smooth enough to hold. Every animal in the forest collected and treasured them.

    â€œOne day, an animal found a blue stone! It was very exciting since no animal had ever seen a blue stone. But the blue stone was rough and dull, without any polish or shine. And it had sharp prickly points sticking out of it, making it very hard to hold.
    â€œCareful not to hurt their paws, the animals carried the stone to the center of the forest and placed it atop a tree stump where everyone could see it.

    â€œâ€˜Perhaps the stone is blue because it popped out of the ground too soon,’ suggested a fox. So the animals waited and watched for many days and nights to see if the blue stone would turn yellow. But the stone remained blue, and its outer shell remained sharp and pointy.
    â€œâ€˜I believe the stone is blue because that is the color it is meant to be,’ said a very wise snake. ‘Therefore, we shall treasure the blue stone for the