Tugboat Bill and the River Rescue

TUGBOAT BILL teaches about the topic of bullying and how you can be great no matter what others say.

Tugboat Bill works with his friend Mable who is an old barge. She's rusty, old, and leaks, but that doesn't mean she's useless. Instead, she's as hard of a worker as Bill, but the other ships don't see it that way. They call Mable names and she pretends to look the other way, but it still affects her and hurts her feelings under the surface. They think they're better because they're newer.

When a cat falls into the river, Mable is the one to save the day since all the new ships don't want to bother with a wet cat. Once Mable's recognized by the public for her heroic deed, the nice ship desire to be in her shoes instead. It goes to show how quickly people's opinions change and how words still hurt. No matter what people tell you, this story shows that you can still be great and become a hero even.


Final Verdict: This would be a good read to introduce bullying to your child. This is an issue that should be addressed at a young age and Tugboat Bill helps teaches us the importance of being nice to others. Overall, it was a good story with well-illustrated pictures.

Tugboat Bill was a great story about Bill and his friend Mabel. Bill is a tugboat who works very hard and Mabel is barge who is loyal and brave. It’s a great story about friendship, and bullying. Bill and Mabel get picked on by the bigger, “better” looking boats in the Hudson.

What I loved about this story is the way they approached bullying. Mabel gets called names and is hurt by this. You see her ignore the taunts but that it still takes a toll on her. I love that the author shows that sometimes it’s hard to ignore the mean names that you are called. But just because someone thinks something about you, if you stay true to who you are, bullies can never hurt you.

Everything worked really well with this book. The illustrations to the flow of the writing, this book deals with a tough subject in a really beautiful way. Making this a great story for kids who have been a bully or who deal with bullying. I absolutely loved this story.