Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories-Megan Kelly Hall (editor) and Carrie Jones (editor)

Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories
Megan Kelly Hall (editor) and Carrie Jones (editor)
Harper, Sep 6 2011, $9.99
ISBN: 9780062060976

As the subtitle states, seventy authors provided their story of either being bullied or bullying someone. There is a common theme that it will get better once you are an adult so hang in there, but also admit that is not easy for a middle school student to wait a decade to be free. Other themes include finding an adult who will listen and act though once again that is not easy to achieve. The target audience of teenagers will struggle to read more than a few entries as most are too short and never quite drill down deep. The exceptions to prose are the comic strips; Cecil Castellucci and Mo Willems provide insightful looks at bullying that the younger teens especially will appreciate. Few of the contributions provide insight into the motives of why they were bullies though some of the victims offer their opinions. Bottom line is this anthology is a terrific tool for the counselor who can customize the entries to the needs of the victimized student.

Harriet Klausner