The Day Leo Said I HATE YOU! by Robie H. Harris

The title alone made me pull this book from the shelf. Such a crazy topic and the two different faces of the little boy, Leo, on the front cover. I first wondered what made him get so angry to say those three words. After reading the first few pages I knew exactly what would make this kid explode, his mom saying no to EVERYTHING!! "No rolling tomotoes across the floor!" and "No dropping string beans in the fishbowl!" she said. These were definately good reasons to be saying NO but to a little kid they may not be.

After Leo continued to be told no over and over again, he told his mom he was going to his room because he did not think he could be told no in his own room. When he got up there he began drawing a mean picture of his mom with crayon on his WALL. His mom came in and did not like what she saw. After telling him no one more time, those three horrible words came out of his mouth. Right after the fact little Leo wanted to shove them right back in. His mom got very sad and they talked about how those words hurt his mom. He said that she had said that she hated broccoli the night before and thought that was the same. They talked a lot about it at the end and he realized that even though she did say no to him every now and then that she was his mom and he loved her very much.

This book reminded me a lot of me when I was a kid. I can remember a very distinct time when I let out those three awful words and could not forgive myself for saying them after. I thought that I was a horrible person. But after I talked about it with my mom we both realized that I did not mean what I said at all. I was just very mad at the time and said something that I shouldn't have.

I thought this book was great to talk about this subject because I think that it is good for little kids to know about. It also has amazing illustrations with a lot of bright colors and it really captures all of the emotion of both Leo and his mother. I would definately put this in my classroom if I was teaching Preschool to First grade. It's a great book that portrays those "other" three words in a light that little kids may not realize.