Teaches kids when squealing on a fellow classmate is appropriate and when it is merely tattling! Set in a school classroom, the kids in the class constantly tattle on each other, creating an air of frustration and distrust. The teacher, rather than policing the situation, addresses underlying feelings and encourages mutual problem solving.

Mrs. McNeil has a class room full of students. One student, Jessica comes up to her and tells her that another student, Peter pulls her hair, but they fix the problem about keeping hands to themselves. Throughout the story there are several students that go up to the teacher to tell her about how others are not doing what they are suppose to be doing, so the teacher constantly remind them of the class rules. The students were overwhelming the teacher so she added the rule of not squealing unless its a big deal. She teaches them that when it is a big deal it is considered an emergency, however after the lecture the teacher is taken to the nurse after an accident and that teaches them the value of telling the teacher when there is something really wrong.

This is a story about the difference between tattle tailing and reporting. The book shows that it is important to report if it is causing risk or danger. "Don't Squeal Unless It's a Big Deal" is about a class of pigs that need to tattle to the teacher about everything that happens in the classroom. It stresses how children need to work on solving problems on their own before going straight to the teacher. The teacher in the story is of coarse a women character although the characters are pigs. Teaching is a common job for women in children's books. This story can be used for all ages of elementary to stress the difference between reporting and telling. ( )

This is a book about 19 pigs in a classroom who like to tattle on each other. This is a fantasy book only because of the characters being talking pigs. I laughed really hard at one of the classroom rules being, "keep your hooves to yourself". Mrs. McNeil is very good at resolving issues in her classroom. The pigs started telling on each other about every small little thing that happened. She makes a new classroom rule, "Don't squeal unless it's a big deal". She wants to inform the pigs that they can handle a "kid sized problem" between themselves. She tells her class only come tell her a problem is it is a big deal. Mrs. McNeil slipped on some spilt slop, and had to take a trip to the nurses office. Her class really stepped up and helped her out. ( )

There are 19 students in the class and they start to tattle on the other children. The teacher tells the students rules of school to show how the students should act. The new rule is don't squeal unless it's a big deal. The students figure out their problems on their own.