READ ALOUD | You're Mean Lily Jean ~ Read by: Mr. Jones

Hey, what's going on? This is mister Jones and we are lit with literacy. Thank you for joining me today for another reading of a story. The story from today will be a part of our bullying series, which I think is a topic that is so important for us to address. And so our story for today is entitled you're mean, lily Jean, I'm curious after this story your thoughts on the antagonist lily Jean. How do you feel about her? And why? All right, so I'm looking forward to your thoughts and I'll share my own on the flip side. Mister Jones lit with literacy. you're mean, lily Jean. See on the other side. you're mean, lily Jean, written by Frida, Wishinske. Illustrated by Katie, McDonald, Denton. Cardi always played with her big sister sandy. They played dragons and knights. They played explorers and pirates. They played mountain climbers and astronauts. Then lily Jean moved in next door. Lily Jean wore shiny red shoes and a puffy red skirt. She had a ribbon in her long brown hair. I can play the xylophone and drums, she told them, I can skate backwards and stand on my head. Wow, said sandy. That's good. I know, said lily Jean. Let's play house. Can I play too? Carly asked, no, said Lilly Jean. Let her play, said sandy. Well, she can play, but only if she's the baby, said lily Jean. Okay, I'll be the baby, Carly agreed, good, sent Lilly Jean. Now crawl, baby, and follow us wherever we go. Carly's side, she didn't want to crawl, but she wanted to play. So she crawled around after sandy and lily Jean. The next day, lily Jean came over. Come on, sandy. Let's play cowgirls, she said. Can I play cowgirls too? Asked Carly. You can be the cow said lily Jean. I don't want to be the cow. I want to be a cow girl. Maybe we can have three cow girls, said sandy. Three cowgirls are too many, said Lilly Jean. Carly has to be the Kyle. The cow goes moo and eats grass. Carly made a face. She did not want to move or eat grass, but lily Jean said she had to if she wanted to play. So she did. The next day, lily Jean said, let's play king and queen. I'll be the king. Sandy will be the queen and Carly will be the dog. I don't want to be the dog said Carly. Let's make Carly a lady in waiting suggested sandy. No, we need a doll, said lily Jean. But I don't want to be a dog. Then you can't play, said Lilly Jean. Carly stomped away. Why does sandy want to play with lily Jean anyway? She thought lily Jean is mean. If only, okay, save Carly hurrying back. I'll be the dog, good sentinel Jean. Now follow us. So Carly followed them to the picnic table. Dogs under the table said Lilly Jean. You don't have to go under the table whisper sandy. I want to say Carly and she crouched under the table. Lily Jean tossed Carly a bone. Now say Bow Wow, but instead of saying Bow Wow, Carly grabbed lily Jean shoe and ran. Hey, come back, shout at Lilly Jean. Bow Wow said Carly as she ran to the side of the house. Make your stupid sister give me back my shoe snap lily Jean. My sister is not stupid, says sandy. Yes, she is, shouted lily Jean. She took my shoe. Your shoe was in the sandbox, a safe Carly. What scream lily Jean? Why did you put it there? I didn't. The dog did said Carly. You can't be a dog ever again. Said lily Jean, hobbling towards the sandbox. Come on, sandy. Let's go to my house and play. Sandy shook her head. No. No. Why not sit lily Jean? I'm playing with Carly. Carly beamed, do you want to play circus? Sandy smiled. I'll be a tightrope walker. She said, and I'll be a lion tamer, said Carly, I want to play too, said Lilly Jean. No, said Carly. Please send lily Jean. I can be a clown. I can be an elephant. I can be the lady who gets shot out of the cannon. I can be anything you want. Can you be nice, asked carling, I can be very nice, certainly Jean, Carly and sandy looked at each other. They looked at lily Jean. Then follow us, said Carly, and lily Jean did. The end. You're mean, lily Jean, written by Frida Washinske. Illustrated by Katie, McDonald, Denton. So what did you think? I actually thought it was a good story and I learned quite a bit. Just kind of examining the characters behaviors. One thing that I thought about lily genius, yes, she was mean, but beyond being mean, there had to be a reason. And one thing I was thinking was, you know what? She was probably lonely. And she was probably doing her best to be accepted. She didn't have a little brother or a sister or a big brother or a big sister to play with that we know of. There was none mentioned in the story. So perhaps that was her way of overcompensating. Trying a little too hard to be friendly and it backfired. Because in the end, we saw that not only was she able to be friendly, but she knew how to do it the entire time. So perhaps she thought being mean was a way to make friends. And she had an opportunity to learn otherwise. But I think the biggest lesson in this story is turning the other cheek. Because even when someone is mean to you, you don't necessarily have to be mean to them. And yes, little Carly did hide the shoe in the sandbox. But compared to everything lily Jean did to her, I don't think that was so bad. And at the end, she forgave her, and everyone was playing together. That is an amazing lesson to be learned. Sometimes it takes a little bit more love to love somebody out of them being mean to us. So I hope you enjoyed this story. Feel free to share what you learned in the comments section or on our website or right here on YouTube. I appreciate you spending your time with me and tune in again because we're going to have more stories about bullying coming real soon. I'm mister Jones. We are lit with literacy and I'll see you again soon. Peace.