This book is going to give a lot of children hope, and change lives big and small for the better. The growing awareness and understanding of the family anomaly - family bullying - family scapegoating is expressed in a playful rhyme and meter, with colourful, bold and relatable illustrations. The play on the meaning of "scapegoat" (by giving that name to the main character) highlights the way that some children often bear the brunt of other family members' anger, blame, shame or frustrations.

Children's literature rarely provides such insightful, brave and validating stories for children of inconsistent, dysfunctional, bullying care givers. Such abuse of children can be internalised by children, damage their self esteem, but SCAPEGOAT validates this blame is misplaced. Readers are shown that confiding in a friend, getting help, and believing in themselves are effective ways to find hope and alleviate the fears.

Aleksandra Schmidt's illustrations are thoughtful, poignant and profound. Hidden within the illustrations are a cute Mouse (perhaps symbolising HOPE... hope that the child abuse which is unable to be seen is finally seen). The LOVE HEART on the pocket, shrinks to the size of a dot when the character is shamed and blamed by his parent, but the love heart grows in size when he is encouraged by his parent, sibling, teacher and friend.

Scapegoat could help explore issues and ideas in a classroom, family therapy or in the home with a care giver, parent or relative. When children are being bullied at home they need an UPSTANDER to be in their corner, to encourage their self esteem and sense of worth, this is an important step in helping bullied CHILDREN. Reduce the harmful internalisation, self blame, shame, trauma and confusion. Children who experience inconsistent parents believe they are to blame and it is all their fault. Scapegoat helps those children, and would make a good addition to a well-stocked family issues section of any bookstore or library.

Understanding the family anomaly of family scapegoating is fundamental to educators when addressing bullying behaviour. Bullying behaviour is learned in the home, behaviour breeds behaviour, and hurt people, hurt people. Although there are plenty of picture books in the market that deal with bullying, very few address the subject of being bullied at home, as SCAPEGOAT does.