Books+that+deal+with+Bullying

=Books that deal with Bullying= If you're dealing with young kids, start with Barbara Bottner and Peggy Rathman's **Bootsie Barker Bites**. She does bite and she kicks and is a deliciously mean bully. Our narrator is told by her mother that she must learn to get along with other children and she means Bootsie. There's a standard comeuppance at the end but the book makes a good start on the care and handling of bullies. Slightly older kids may enjoy the picture book by Sam Swope with illustrations by Barry Root **The Araboolies of Liberty Street**. In this town, the houses are all neat, people are well behaved and there is safety. There is also fear, however, because of General Pinch and his wife who are ever watchful for any deviation from the norm. Bellowing "I'll call in the army!" at any misbehavior, no matter how slight, the General and his wife are able to keep everything under control and everyone under their thumbs. Then, the Araboolies move in next door to the Pinches. The Araboolies don't understand the language and they don't care! Their carefree existence, which violates all that the Pinches hold dear, is bound to bring about a confrontation and so it does. There's a didactic message here but it's so exuberantly and humorously presented that we absorb it and laugh at the Pinches in all of society. If they still need priming, try Ezra Jack Keats' **Goggles!** in which Peter and his friend find a pair of goggles in amongst some discarded junk and must protect them from the neighborhood bullies. Natalie Kinsey-Warnock's **[|The Night the Bells Rang]**. This is a gentle story of life in northern Vermont during the first World War. Mason lives on a farm with his younger brother and parents and much of the book describes such rural pastimes as sugar on snow and cider-making, but the heart of the book lies in the perceptions Mason has toward Aden Cutler, a school bully. It's Mason who bears the brunt of that bullying and often, bullies his own brother in anger at his helplessness. He frequently wishes Aden dead. However, it is also Mason who is sole witness to and recipient of an act of bravery and kindness on the part of Aden. When every bell in town rings out for the end of the war, it is Mason who approaches Aden's mother who stands alone grieving for Aden, killed in battle, knowing that no one in the celebrating town thought kindly of her son. "He did something for me once and I never thanked him. I wish he were coming back...I'm sorry." says Mason and runs off to take his turn ringing the bell for peace. The point of the story is clear but not hammered in. It's a lovely [|read-aloud] for kids from about third grade up, I think. Mary Downing Hahn's **[|Stepping on the Cracks]** moves up a war to [|World War II]. It's also a brief and touching book. Margaret and Elizabeth are next door neighbors and best friends with vastly different personalities. Both have brothers who are in the service and they, like the rest of their families are worried about them. They are bullied by Gordy who becomes their archenemy. Then they discover the deserter brother that Gordy is hiding and caring for and the abusive home that is the cause of Gordy's behavior. Again, it's a good read-aloud and most kids from third grade up seem to like it. Paul Zindel usually writes for an older audience but in **Attack of the Killer Fishsticks** he gets younger and sillier. Zindel sets four fifth graders on a quest to help Max, the new kid at school, deal with the Nasty Blobs, two school bullies. They even encourage him to run for fifth grade class representative in this very accessible chapter book.
 * Bad Girls** by Cynthia Voigt is fun. Mikey and Margalo meet in Mrs. Chemsky's fifth grade classroom. For a short time they are rivals but soon team up for disaster. They so effectively deal with the class bully, Louis Caselli, that his resulting rage gets him expelled from school. Mikey is aggressive and defiant. Margalo prefers a sneaky approach but together they make up a challenge for an equally resourceful teacher in this school novel. Like the characters in the book, this one's best for fifth grade and up.
 * Carlos Is Gonna Get It** by Kevin Emerson is told from the point of view of seventh grader, Trina and her friends who have had it with Carlos' acting out in class. He talks in a funny voice and itches incessantly. Now they've hatched a plan to teach him a lesson -- but Trina's having second thoughts. Paints a realistic picture of the bullying and interpersonal dramas of middle school.