Loved it! 😍

"Pablo, & Olivia: New School" focuses on real issues children face daily: anger and sadness due to bullying, and feelings of not fitting in.

Synopsis

Meet the Costa kids...Marco, Pablo, and Olivia are two brothers and a sister from the mountains of Ecuador. The three kids grew up in a farmhouse with their parents and very little means. After their dad gets a promotion at his job, Marco, Pablo, Olivia, and their parents move to the coast for a fresh start.
The Costa siblings' lives turn into a wild ride when they make new friends, set off on adventures, celebrate traditions, deal with rivals, embark on journeys, and experience things they never thought they could have experienced.

Marco, Pablo, & Olivia is a crafted book filled with nine stand-alone mini-stories featuring Ecuador's beautiful culture, morality, and magic!

Story Three
Marco, Pablo, and Olivia are starting their first day of school in the coastal region. With new teachers, new classmates, and new subjects to learn, they are ready to get started. However, Olivia's excitement vanishes when she becomes the target of two tricky fifth graders who start teasing her. Olivia tries to ignore them, but they continue to bother her. How can Olivia get those mean fifth graders to leave her alone?

Children have mixed emotions about the first day of school: excitement, dread, indifference, and fear. Each child enters a new grade on the same level; everyone is new to the room. In this case, Olivia is not just new to the room but also to the area.

A week ago, Olivia's family moved to Guayaquil, Ecuador, and she's ready to start her new school and classroom. Her energy level is through the roof, and her brothers are winded, trying to keep up with her through the halls. Olivia is ready to start fifth grade, even though she's a few years younger than her classmates. Olivia explains that since she excelled in math and reading, her former school in Loja allowed her to skip two grades. Unfortunately, some students in her new school decided a nine-year-old in fifth grade was weird and asked if she was from Planet Freak.

Sadly, so many children are bullied and harassed like Olivia. Often, bullied children become depressed and use fists when avoiding bullies, talking to an adult, or brushing off their taunts doesn't work.

Feeling different can make children feel isolated. It does for many adults as well. We should encourage ALL children to treat others with kindness and respect and never taunt, call names, or make anyone feel unwelcome. Instead of making new students feel like outsiders, we should invite them to sit with us at the lunch table and include them in activities. In a nutshell, We should lift people up and not tear them down.

Pablo, & Olivia: New School focuses on real issues children face daily: anger and sadness due to bullying, and feelings of not fitting in. Amazon has Pablo, & Olivia: New School, a comic book/graphic novel, listed for 8-12 years. For the most part, the text is age appropriate for an eight-year-old. However, some parents might not be keen on seeing the phrase, "What the hell?" That could've easily been changed to "What the heck."

I recommend reading Pablo, & Olivia: New School and then having a heart-to-heart discussion about bullies, discussing if your child agrees with how Olivia handled the taunts. Or if not, what would they have done in her place?

Reviewed by

I've been constructing reviews for over a decade and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. Most of the reviews will be featured on my blog (Kam's Place), Pinterest, Instagram, BlueSky, and Goodreads. Don't forget to tip your waitress! :D

Synopsis