Cora June and Wilson cannot seem to agree on anything at school today. They have argued from the beginning to the end of the day, about what to bring in for their class feast, what to play at recess and even about the class field trip. Their teacher is at her wit’s end, and finally takes them aside to help them learn about their behaviour and how to compromise. I like that she talks about them both having skills to be a leader, but that one skill needs work. She explains that their arguing just wastes time and some ways to move forward. She also talks about the fact that sometimes compromise is not possible, such as when the class votes and one option wins. There are some good strategies given and also an explanation about not going along with things that are dangerous etc.

This is a great story to be used for a specific purpose. It is one that can be read when there are issues of arguing and lack of compromise. It would be followed with a discussion of whatever the situation is that has prompted the argument or disagreement. This would be a good book to have in a classroom, or family library to be used for teaching the specific skill of compromise. There are a lot of very willful children out there that have a hard time when they do not get what they want and this story might just help a little.

Cora June has been the main player in another book that was all about getting what she wants. Apparently she didn’t learn because she is back for a very similar lesson. I feel the same way about this book as I did that one...ehhh. I am not a fan of the illustrations, and the message is just so hammer hard. You must compromise. That's it. Not for me thanks.

The Great Compromise by Julia Cook

Cora June and Wilson cannot seem to agree on anything at school today. They have argued from the beginning to the end of the day, and their teacher is at her wit’s end. Over and over, she is reminding her students that they need to compromise. However, as the day continues to go on, their arguments seem to never come to an end.

When the two have their final fight over a blue popsicle, their teacher has had enough. She brings Cora June and Wilson together to talk through every one of their fights. One by one, the teacher explains to Cora June and Wilson how they could have found a compromise in each of the situations they were arguing about throughout the day.

After the support from the teacher, Cora June and Wilson come together for the ultimate compromise for their class's upcoming Fantastic Flavor Feast. By working together, they can combine their favorite foods into the newest compromise of flavors… tacos filled with spaghetti!

The Great Compromise was designed as a teaching text. The structure of the book, the repetitive language, and the modeling completed by the teacher was deliberately designed and purposely executed.

As a teacher, I would utilize this text with younger students. The text would be a great text for teaching the social skill of compromising. Many students do struggle with this skill. The relatability of the scenarios is easily transferable to any school or student.

Older students would likely be bored with the simplicity of it. However, they too will be able to undoubtedly recognize that the purpose of this text is to teach the skill of compromising rather than be an overly creative text.

My five year old absolutely loved this book! It really resonated with him, because he argues with his little sister all the time. The Great Compromise teaches about how to work with others in a cute and fun way. Some of the language used was a little advanced, in my opinion. It is excellent for having a more in depth conversation with kids. This would be excellent in a classroom. It also contains tips for parents and educators at the very back, too, which I really liked.

Cora June and Wilson learn about compromise.
They spend the day arguing over what they want to do, play, where to go and eat.
They need to learn to be respectful of others feelings.
"When you COMPROMISE it can be a WIN-WIN situation."

Thanks NetGalley and Boys Town Press for this ARC.

This is an amazing book about learning how to compromise - an extremely important life skill for your young one to learn. The illustrations accompany this book well.

This is a book that's supposedly about the topic of compromise. Unfortunately, the message is muddied and could be potentially confusing to a child (or to anyone who doesn't know the actual definition of compromise).

Cora June and Wilson keep arguing over everything. First, they get paired up for the Fantastic Flavor Feast and have to bring in a dish of their favourite food. (This seems like a project designed to create conflict, but I digress.) Cora June wants to bring spaghetti, but Wilson's advocating for tacos. Then at recess, Cora June wants to play dodge ball, but Wilson wants to play soccer. Again, they clash. Then there's a decision about the class trip; Cora June picks the zoo, but Wilson wants to see the State Capitol. The final straw is when a classmate hands out popsicles and there are only two left: one blue and one red. Of course Cora June and Wilson start to fight over the blue one.

It's at this point that their teacher gets fed up with the constant bickering. She sits them down and tells them they need to learn how to compromise. She proceeds to do this by... flipping a coin.

Let's pause for a second and look at the definition of "compromise":

to make a deal in which each side makes concessions

So how does flipping a coin constitute a compromise? It doesn't. That's the first confusing part of the story. But it gets worse. The teacher then goes on to say:

Your wants and your needs get compromised,
so others can get their way.

Now, that is a valid definition of "compromise", but probably not the one the book intended to talk about. In fact, the very first point in the parents' section at the back states:

Compromise does not mean surrendering something of value just to maintain peace.

And yet, that's pretty much what the aforementioned text is advocating! The notes then go on to aim for a "win-win" situation rather than a "win-lose" one... but if you're making concessions so that others can get their way, you're not going to have a "win-win". (For that matter, you're not going to have anything but a "win-lose" situation if you flip a coin. I'm still confused as to how that has anything to do with compromise, no matter how you define it.)

Okay... now that the confusing stuff is out of the way, let's talk about the rest of the book. I really do like the illustrations. They're cute and colourful, the characters have great facial expressions, and the pictures are likely to be appealing to kids. I'm not sure if I would've gone with red and blue (it politicizes things a bit too much), but kids may not notice that aspect, anyway.

The writing is... strange. Parts of the text are in rhyme (and in italics), but others aren't. Since this is the first of these books that I've read, my first impression of this is that it seems a bit lazy, almost as if the author couldn't be bothered to work to make the whole thing rhyme. Maybe it's just the style that was used in the rest of the series, though (which would make it weird if it were changed now).

I think I might've liked this one better had it not specifically used the word "compromise". The story is really about solving social problems. By narrowing it to the concept of compromise, it confuses the issue and even makes it look wrong in places. It's too bad, because the actual solutions--and the actual compromises that are included--are actually pretty good. Well, in theory; I don't know if "spacos" are all that tasty...