A Special Series on Bullying

Everyone’s talking about bullying these days… and for good reason.  The recent suicides of teens, from New Brunswick, NJ to Mentor, OH, have made front page headlines.  The deaths of these students leave us all asking, “What else could have been done to prevent this child from taking his/her life?”  Quite frankly, there’s a lot more than could have and must be done in order to prevent bullying, of all kinds, in the first place.  President Obama has responded with a video taking on the issue of bullying.  The “It Gets Better Project” has launched a series of videos to help openly gay teens know that things will look up as they move on through the years.  Bullyinginfo.org provides information for children and teens who are trying to cope with and respond to bullying-related problems.

Some administrators are not responsive to parents or teachers who bring bullying-related issues to them since they have so much on their plate (or don’t think the issue is severe enough).  Therefore, it’s up to teachers (who also have a lot on their plates) to confront the issue of bullying and deal with problems as soon as they see them.  But how?  When I was a classroom teacher I always used literature to initiate tough conversations with my students.  Therefore, in an effort to highlight some books that deal with bullying, I’ve contacted many of the publishers whose books I’ve reviewed here on Two Writing Teachers in the past few years.  Not only were they willing to send me review copies of their titles that deal with bullying, but many were also eager to provide books as giveaways to our readers.

Each Thursday during the month of November, I’ll highlight one or more books on bullying that can be used with elementary and/or middle school students.  Today’s book is The Boss Baby written and illustrated by Marla Frazee.  Click here to view The Boss Baby Post.