The Revealers
Gr 5-7-Russell Trainer, a seventh grader at Parkland Middle School, is being bullied. After a particularly bad episode, he reaches out for help to another boy who is the target of daily bullying at school. The two new friends notice that there's also a girl being harassed, and the three join forces to create a place online for bullied kids to publish their stories via the school's Internet service. The Bully Lab becomes a way for them to give voice to their feelings without the fear of being ridiculed. But when one of the bullies plays a prank on the trio, the principal calls an end to the email forum for fear of being sued.  Russell and his friends prevail in the end, with a satisfying closure to the story. While the plot is predictable, Doug Wilhelm's honest story (Square Fish, 2011) will resound with kids who have experienced similar situations. Jon Toppo's narration lacks consistency, making it difficult to follow the characters when more than one person is speaking in a scene. Listeners will find it a challenge to connect to and stay with the audio version.-Lyn Gebhard, Sparta Public Library, NJα(c) Copyright 2011.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.--This text refers to theAudio CDedition.