The Bully Book: A Novel
Part instruction manual, part journal from the trenches, this debut novel incorporates both sides of the bullying issue into a single narrative. Eric Haskins is an average kid who has coasted through elementary school with a couple of friends and without attracting undue attention. But this year he is the “Grunt,” the kid that everyone in sixth grade hates. Unsure of what he has done wrong, Eric becomes obsessed with getting his hands on the mythic Bully Book, which will supposedly tell him why he has been designated the Grunt. Eric keeps a journal, pages of which are intermixed with pages from the Bully Book. Reading the two together highlights how enigmatic the problem is for the child who is on the receiving end of a clearly defined set of unwritten rules. The fact that the Bully Book writes all the rules down adds a conspiratorial menace to the story. It is an over-the-top approach, yet it reinforces the insidious nature of bullying and its continued prevalence in the lives of middle-schoolers. Grades 3-6. --Kara Dean