Review: For Adult Readers
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 10, 2012
For adult readersI don't give this a 5-star because of the subject matter; This is why I give it a 5-star:Having no safe haven and confused over his sexual orientation, Nick endures bullying to the nth degree. He has a friend in Penny but soon she's being bullied in cyberspace along with him. It's a year-long account of the madness of what they and others endure at the words and bloodied hands of others.The Boxer Rebellion is a hard-hitting account of bullying. It is brutally honest in dealing with what goes on in schools, over the internet, in private, and in public as it deals with coming to grips with one's own sexuality. Children have enough to deal with in life trying to understand where they fit it, wanting to be liked. Add to this the peer pressure to be like everyone else and to be expected to make choices they're not ready for, and it causes confusion especially at such a young age.Bullying has been going on for decades and previously I had struggled as to why children today commit suicide over it when suicide wasn't an issue decades ago (or had I been blind to it?).  We handled it; Why can't they? The Boxer Rebellion, while not addressing the difference between bullying today and decades ago, answers this. Cyberspace is a place for hate and bigotry to spread it's ugly tentacles, causing hurt, shame, and humiliation to others when videos for a laugh or to prove one's orientation go public. Cell phones in school makes this easier with video cameras, allowing instant uploading and downloading of damaging media to quickly spread along with gossip through group texting.WARNING - This book deals with sexual situations, some in more detail. Adults who read it will be made aware of the brutal honesty of the minefield which awaits our youngsters daily.  And yes, our children are hit with a lot more than what we were. It's a tsunami unto them.