Dear Bully

This week I read Dear Bully, which is a book of stories compiled by Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones. The short stories are all written by YA authors, and all have to deal with their experiences with bullying. I liked the book because I am familiar with a lot of the contributing authors, and because it reminded me how pervasive bullying is. All of the authors set up different scenarios, with different types of bullying, at different points in their lives. But the bottom line was still that they have all experienced bullying.

The book had a really strong message and I think that everyone - not just middle schoolers or people that have been bullied - should read it. One of my favorite quotes from the book was, "We need not just to think but to live outside the box. Weirdness is good. It keeps things interesting," (246).

Here are some authors that contributed to the book that you might be familiar with:

Kieran Scott: She wrote the Clique series (http://www.jointheclique.com/), using the pen name "Kate Brian". I think one of the books was made into a movie.

R. L. Stine: You probably all remember the Goosebumps series - well this is their author and he wrote a story in this book.

Ellen Hopkins: She writes some of my favorite YA books. They are novels written in verse, and include Crank, Glass, Burned.

Carolyn Mackler: She wrote (with Jay Asher) The Future of Us, which I read a few weeks ago and LOVED.

This book is also really cool because it has an accompanying website, www.dearbully.com that features new bullying stories by famous authors each week. Check it out!