Tyrone: the Double Dirty Rotten Cheater

Tyrone the Double Dirty Rotten Cheater by Hans Wilhelm had some aspects about it that I did like and some aspects that I did not like. I liked the overall moral of the story, which was that cheaters do not prosper. Tyrone cheated at every game, which made the other dinosaurs not want to play with

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him and caused him to be stung by bees. I also liked the illustrations because it gave a good visual for children to see how Tyrone was cheating, even when it was not explicitly said in the book. One example of this was and illustration of Tyrone peaking under his blindfold while the story was talking about him winning games that did not require him to be big or strong.
A few things I did not like about this story were that some of the language used was very violent. For example, Tyrone said, “If you say one word about this to anyone else, I’ll break every bone in your body;” This type of language may be more acceptable for slightly older children but definitely not very young children. Another thing I did not like about the book was that the other dinosaurs did not help Tyrone when bees were stinging him. This could be seen as a bad lesson to children to not help others who have done bad things.

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I did like the story for a couple reasons. First, the plot was very organized and kept a quite constant pace. The story moves through each example of how Tyrone has cheated. For example, at first Tyrone cheats by stepping over the line when they are bowling, but then he cheats by tripping Boland in

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the egg race, then again he cheats by cutting a hole in the bottom of his sack for the sack race. Throughout the story the other characters are getting agitated with Tyrone cheating, but they are never able to prove that he is. At one point in the story Tyrone even says, “Yes, indeed, cheating always works. All you have to do is tell a big fat lie!” Tyrone’s cheating is a good example for kids to learn from. When a child is cheating they probably are not thinking about how this will affect the other children, they instead are only thinking about themselves. This story allows students to see the effects of cheating. Especially when the other children state, “If Tyrone can’t play fair… we’ll cut him out of the next game.” This perspective is good for students to learn. Another reason I like the story is because each illustration pairs with a section of the story quite well. Most of the illustrations are examples of Tyrone cheating, but it is good for young students to see examples of types of cheating. For example, one picture shows Tyrone discreetly looking at another student’s cards during a card game. Young students might not think about this as cheating, but once they see the illustration in this book they can then make the mental connection. Lastly, I think this book is engaging for young students. They language is clear and easy to follow. The plot allows children to relate to the story, this is another positive about the story. Overall, the big idea of the story is that cheating is wrong, and nobody likes to play games when they know that other players are not playing fairly.

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