Rosie is the smallest person in her class, and Ben and Billy bully her. On her way home from school they tease her that if she steps on the cracks in the pavement, the bears will get her. So she steps on the cracks on purpose, but nothing happens. The next day she is so cross about the unfairness of being bullied that she stamps her foot on a crack, and the bears appear. (You have to stamp, it seems!) Now she has two large protectors, and unpleasant things start happening to Ben and Billy. Furthermore, Rosie can tell the most amazing stories about bears. She is happy and confident, but as she and the bears are returning home, they see a little boy being bullied by two big girls. Rosie shouts, 'How dare you', and the girls run away because 'she had the look of an angry bear'. Rosie and the little boy 'jump on the cracks all the way home'. Delightful.