Gisbert is shrinking because the words of his "friends" are affecting his self esteem. After talking to his parents, Gisbert realizes it is not bad to be different. His parents convince him to tell his friends how their words made him feel sad.

This is a wonderful book to share with children of all ages as they return to school. Bullying is a nationwide epidemic and children need to know words can hurt, and they can always talk to their parents or a trusting adult when they feel sad because of another's words.

An excellent read for children to understand how words have an affect on others. Gisbert the giraffe begins to feel smaller and smaller with every negative word spoken to him. He doesn’t understand why, but he feels as though he is shrinking. The visual concept of feeling small on the inside while your appearance on the outside remains the same was a wonderful way to help children understand bullying. The author also delivers a message of how you can make others feel great about themselves by words and acts of kindness. Both very important messages in our current world. I would recommend this book for children between the ages of 3-10. Although it references Gisbert being in kindergarten, this would be a wonderful book for pre-school to elementary teachers to use in their classrooms.

I received an e-arc from NetGalley via Flyaway Books in exchange for an honest review.

What in the World Is Wrong with Gisbert? by Jochen Weeber is a children’s book appropriate for younger children to be a springboard for discussing bullying. The writing is crystal clear that words hurt Gisbert the Giraffe, who begins to shrink when his friends make negative comments about his looks and actions. Gisbert stays home from school to avoid his hurt feelings. One of the friends from school drops a note for him at his doorstep that he is missed at school, and only then is a discussion started with his parents. This is key, that parents and teachers should stress, that talking with adults is important to help them problem solve the problems.

Illustrations that support the text and are very pleasing and kid friendly make this book perfect for every elementary school teacher to include in their classroom libraries. More books on this topic should be read over and over, so that young children can be given the tools to combat bullying.

I received an e-arc from NetGalley via Flyaway Books in exchange for an honest review.

I think this would be a good recommendation for a parent who is specifically looking for a title that will address feelings and how to deal with friends and harsh words. I think it addresses that well and see that as the primary purpose of the book. The story and wording seems a bit halted to me, though.

This book explores the psychological effect of allowing normal childhood interactions, that typically involve some sort of insult amongst children, to lower one's confidence. Gisbert is alarmed, confused, and subsequently dejected when the other children point out his differences and flaws. This book is a great teaching tool that will help a child understand his own feelings of confusion and anxiety when exposed to this kind of behavior in other children. I really liked the fact that the other children (animals) weren't outright attempting to bully Gisbert, but were simply behaving in a manner that is typical of children, and often unkind, and unknowingly cruel. Not only will this help the child that feels isolated and shamed, but also the children who tend to make unkind remarks about or to other children. I definitely would recommend this for a classroom teacher to help children understand the subtleties of bullying and it's effect on everyone involved.

In my opinion, this sounds more like a psychiatrist reading a book to a child than what a child would actually read and like. The points being made are too obvious. I'm a school librarian and read books to children in kindergarten and first grade. Most children can pick up on more subtle clues than what is given in this book.

Jochan Weeber's giraffe Gisbert is experiencing just how rough life can be. His friends make comments that gradually wear away his self confidence and happiness. Unfortunately, he doesn't talk to anyone about what is going no and so the bullying continues.

This book could be just the resource a parent needs to share with a child that is in a similar situation. It should be used to start a dialogue to recognize the importance of kindness and sharing with a trusted adult. The story is best used as a resource rather that a read aloud as the information is delivered in a more deliberate rather than subtle way.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

This colourful picture book gives children an introduction to empathy, thinking about the effect their words can have on others to both help and hurt. It also introduces them to the idea that they can't always know their words have affect the feelings of others until later, and make them realise that their words should always be kind.
The pictures are imaginative. I particularly liked how when he was feeling at his smallest, he watched TV in the lower window, rather than the highest as he did when he was happy.

The book provides great opportunities to talk about emotions and empathy but also could be used to encourage children to join in with familiar, repeated phrases (used as Gisbert feels smaller). It could also be used with older children to talk about converting units of measurement from metric to imperial.

Many thanks to the publishers for an e-ARC of this book to review via NetGalley

Charming easy to read book. Also teaches the child reading it that his words may hurt others as well

Gisbert is a giraffe. He's excited about school, but the other students pick on him. It makes him feel small...

Flyaway Books and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It is being published today.

Each nasty comment makes him shrink so he's no longer as tall as a giraffe. His parents keep him home from school to find out what's wrong. When he goes back, all the students have missed him. And, pretty soon, he's as tall as he should be again. Just talking about your problems can make them better.

This was a sweet book that I would like to use with my students. I like how the story explained how Gisbert felt that he was shrinking, but no one else noticed and only he felt it. However, at the end of the story, Gisbert grows as his friends are nice to him, and he bursts through the roof. There’s a divide between external and internal feelings throughout the whole story that I think is pretty clearly defined, up until that point, and I think it might cause confusion in some little ones. The things that Gisbert goes through are very relatable for many children, but I didn’t enjoy how Gisbert’s parents kept him home from school for an entire week when they saw him feeling down but didn’t know what was wrong. This is probably nit-picky of me, but from the teacher perspective I don’t think this sends the right lesson to students - they should speak up and tell someone if they are being bullied. When Gisbert and his parents figured out the problem, I thought it was great how they told him to stand up for himself and tell his schoolmates that their words hurt. I wish he had the opportunity to do that in the story, but instead his friends apologized and somehow had read his mind to know that what they said had hurt him. I know this review seems nit-picky, but I really did enjoy this book and can think of some great uses for it in my library. Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

Gisbert the giraffe learns to deal with feeling small after school friends make hurtful comments. While it has a wonderful message in it about not allowing others to make you feel small and to advocate for yourself, telling people when they've done something to hurt your feelings, some of the language that was repeated didn't land well for me. It said Gisbert was shrinking, but then it made clear that he only felt like he was shrinking, but at the end they show his self esteem growing so much that he bursts through the school roof. Even with the room and flexibility in children's books, I felt a tightening of the language in a handful of places and being clear that sometimes people won't realize what they've done to hurt you and come forward on their own to apologize could be a worthwhile message as well. Still, a very cute story!

Gisbert is a giraffe who is bullied by his other animal friends. His reaction to this unkindness is to shrink.
His parents are very concerned and sense his unhappiness and the bullying continues for a bit. Ultimately, Gisbert overcomes his "shrinking" and his friends are apologetic. The positive outcome will be very reassuring to my younger elementary school students.
The illustrations are vivid and eye-catching. By using animals to bully, my students will be intrigued by the message even more.

This book is so cute! It also has such a great story! I think Kids could learn a lot from this book. It seems very well written. I am putting in the order for our library system to order it right now!

An absolutely adorable look at what happens to a child's self awareness when other children notice 'hey, you're different from me!' A wonderful way to begin a conversation with your child, or in a classroom environment, about how their words can unintentionally damage another child's feelings and how to talk to their parents or an adult about how to handle their emotions. #WhatInTheWorldIsWrongWithGisbert? #NetGalley

Gisbert the Giraffe is feeling small from the things that people are saying about him. He doesn't know how to deal with his feeling, so he stays quiet. Eventually he talks to his parents and they help him.

I like the way this book give small children a voice. It encourages them to express what they are feeling. I think this book may have lost a little in translation from its original German. I'm definitely not a fan of the name Gisbert.

Overall, I think it is engaging and educational for preschoolers and kindergarteners.

I am unable to review this as there was an technical issue with the download. All that appears is black pages with grey lines.

First off, I love any story about a giraffe and the fact that Gisbert’s lovey was stuffed giraffe made it even cuter.
I read it to my six year old grandson and while he thoroughly enjoyed the story, the concept of why Gisbert was getting smaller was a bit abstract to him. I felt I was able to explain it to him though. His favorite illustration was Gisbert watching television in the top story of the building and later in the story when he felt so small, he could only sadly look in the bottom level.

I feel this is a great addition to an elementary library to help children understand hurt feelings. I took away from the end of the story that the other animals at school didn’t really understand that their comments were hurtful to Gisbert until he stopped going to school. The loving parents were a sweet addition to the story as well.

A cute, simple book about how words can harm or build a person up. This book would be good for younger elementary teachers to share with their class.

Enlightening story of a giraffe who is made to feel small by others teasing and includes lessons on how to react to it by oneself and with the assistance of others. The impact of a very tall giraffe feeling very small can be helpful for children to understand and relate to how strongly other’s laughing and whispers and taunting affect friends and classmates.