Bokuden and the Bully is an engaging folk tale that will appeal to the elementary-aged student’s keen sense of fairness and social justice. The tale is filled with action and clever dialogue and also contains elements of a trickster tale. Students will delight in knowing the secret that Bokuden is keeping from the bully. Both students and teachers will find it compelling that Bokuden is a real person who lived in 15th and 16th Century Japan. An afterward in Bokuden and the Bully provides this information in a manner that can easily be consumed by elementary students.

Themes in this book include Japan, justice, non-violence, social hierarchy and bullying, making an extremely versatile tale with a variety of cross curricular applications. It could just as easily be used in a folktale study as it could in an anti-bullying unit.