Mean Chicks, Cliques, and Dirty Tricks: A Real Girl's Guide to Getting Through it All

Book Details

  This book is an ultimate survival books for bullies, backstabbing, and drama. Dr. Karres is a well known girl guru who has helped hundreds with tween and teen issues. In this book, Dr. Karres has interviewed over 1,000 tweens and teens and talked with them about topics such as bullying, mean chicks, cliques, and how this affects their life, education, and future. Included are first hand accounts, quotations, quizzes, fill in the blank questions, and quick fixes to every day problems that tweens face. 

Review

  Again, I wish this book was also written for boys because it is fantastic. Readers will be drawn to the first hand accounts, quirky language and straight to the point answers. Dr. Karres brings the seriousness of this hard subject down the the level of understandability to tweens and teens. Cyberbullying is also touched upon and both Facebook.com and Myspace.com are shown as drama makers if used inappropriately. Readers will not be subjected to sugarcoated faux made for television stories, but will be able to relate to real life accounts of kids just like them who are going through similar things. 

Interest Age/Reading Level

9-12 years/ Tween

Karres, E. (2010). Mean chicks, cliques, and dirty tricks: A real girl's guide to getting through the day with smarts and style. New York: Adams Media Publishing.

We Want You to Know: Kids Talk About Bullying by Deborah Ellis

Book Details

  Author Deborah Ellis collected more than 30 personal accounts of bullying taken straight from the mouths of children ages 9-13 years old. These kids have overcome being bullied, know someone who has been bullied, or have been a bully themselves and have shared their stories in this book as a part of an anti-bullying campaign in Canada. Bigger questions are asked such as why do educators and parents just stand by and let the bullying continue, and what makes a bully start bullying. The writing in this book is great for kids and for adults, and both will feel a deep connection to their stories. 

Review

  Katie stays home, Adam is beat up all the time and Amanda hides in the school closet during lunch to hide from a group of girls who call her ugly and fat. All of these first hand accounts are written about in this book created from author Deborah Ellis. The scenarios have real names, ages, locations, and pictures posted which gives readers a sense of intimacy. Readers will find at least one story that they can relate to and this book would be a great resource in classroom and library discussions. Although these stories are disturbing and distressing, it is a great book to share with children who are being bullied or are in fact, bullies themselves. 

Interest Age/Reading Level

9-12 years old/tween

Ellis, D. (2010). We want you to know: Kids talk about bullying. Canada: Coutea Books.

Stand Up for Yourself and Your Friends: Dealing with Bullies and Bossiness and Finding a Better Wa

Book Details

  This is a great book for tween girls to use to spot bullying, stop bullying, and to speak out against it. This book is an easy to read book that offers readers pull out quizzes, pages on real life experiences and quotes, as well as "what would you do" scenarios for the reader to fill out. At the end of the book, readers sign an anti bullying pledge and clever comebacks to bullying. 

Review

  The American Girl Publishing Company aims their non fiction books at real life obstacles that kids may go through. From making friends to learning how to defend yourself against bullies, this book goes all the way. This book is easy to read, fun to use, and is written in language geared towards kids. With bullying being so prevalent in the news today we see that kids are coming up against these challenges at an earlier than ever age and are unprepared how to defend themselves against bullying. Parents of kids who are being bullied find it hard to communicate with their children and this books offers kids and their parents opportunities to work together in fill in the blank scenarios and questions. The only fault that I found with this book was that it is geared just to tween girls. I know that this is the population it serves, but is anyone up for starting an American Boy collection?

Interest Age/Reading Level

9-12 years old/tween

Criswell, P. (2009). Stand up for yourself: Dealing with bullies and bossiness and finding a better way. New York: American Girl Publishing.

Pacer Kids Against Bullying

Website Details
Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) presents Kids Against Bullying, an interactive website where kids can get information on how to fight bullying.  The website includes Games and Fun, Contests, Watch This, Kids Say, and Smart Stuff.  Games and Fun has scrabble and word find games along with tales about bullying.  The Contest section has entries for poetry and artwork.  Kids Say features videos and real stories from other tweens.  Smart Stuff talks about what bullying is and isn't, who does it and why, and what you can do to spot it and stop it.  The site even offers a place to take a pledge and sign a petition showing you are against bullying.

Review
An informative site that event features Demi Lovato, Disney star from Sonny with a Chance and Camp Rock.  Demi, who was bullied in middle school, tells how she overcame verbal harassment and bullying to become the strong person she is today. Demi encourages everyone to help put an end to bullying.

Interest Age/Reading Level
Suitable for grades 3-7, older tweens can also visit  http://www.pacerteensagainstbullying.org/

kidsAgainstBullying. (2011). kidsAgainstBullying. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from http://www.pacerkidsagainstbullying.

Bullies Are a Pain in the Brain!

 

DVD Details
Trevor Romain gives tips on how to deal with bullies in this DVD based on his book, Bullies Are a Pain in the Brain.  Jack doesn't want to go to Tovar Junior High School because of a bully named Henry.  He learns from Trevor and his friend, Skye, that hiding, ignoring, and fighting are not the way to fight bullies.  Myths  and truths about bullying are explained and advice on what to do instead is given.  There are also special features such as a message from the author, music videos, and a resource guide for both parents and teachers to use.

Review
Great advice on how to stand up for yourself, and the importance of self confidence is portrayed in humorous fashion. Romain dispenses advice as a character in the story helping to bring it to life.

Interest Age/Reading Level
Suitable for grades 4-8.

Romain, T. (Director). (2008). Trevor Romain: Bullies Are a Pain in the Brain. [DVD]. United States of America. Porchlight Home Ent.

Stopping Verbal Bullying - New Dimension Media

Video Details
One of the first words that come to mind to describe this video is authentic.  The majority of the production is focused on middle school students who are sharing their stories of being bullied, bullying and witnessing bullying. Their stories are obviously true. These are not child actors reading from a script.  The emotional trauma of a young girl is obvious as she recalls being shunned and made fun of beginning in the fourth grade.  She describes the desperation of not knowing who to trust and internalizing the extreme and constant pain and threat of being bullied.  Another young girl describes how she has now reflected on her part in bullying others and clearly is remorseful and has even made amends with her victim through a personal letter and a public apology that both come across as sincere. The younger brother of another victim witnessed the bullying of  his sister and then was inspired to start an anti bullying campaign at his middle school to bring awareness and offer solutions. 
Review
This video is available for checkout at public libraries and would be a great beginning for any tween interested in exploring any aspect of bullying. The video includes suggestions for real-life solutions. It also includes a study guide to assist any teachers willing to open the discussion of bullying in the classroom. This is an excellent resource.

Interest Age/Reading Level

Recommended for Grades 6 through 12.

Part of The Emmy Award winning series: Connect With Kids

CWKNetwork. (2007). Stopping Verbal Bullying [DVD]. United States of America: New Dimension Media.

Letters to a Bullied Girl by Olivia Gardner

Book Details
Olivia Gardner was in middle school when she suffered an epileptic seizure in front of her classmates. Instead of responding with compassion and kindness, some of the students unleashed a bullying campaign against Olivia that was filled with hate. They taunted her, dragged her backpack through the mud and even wore “I Hate Olivia” bracelets.  This unwarranted treatment sent Olivia into the depths of despair, self-doubt and on the verge of taking her own life.  And then a miracle happened. Two sisters named Emily and Sarah Buder, who were 17 and 14 years old at the time, heard of Olivia’s situation and were so moved to help her that they devised a letter writing campaign called “Olivia’s Letters” to counteract the bullying.  Thousands of people were so moved by the invitation of the Buder sisters that they wrote letters of support and hope. People wrote in and expressed their remorse for having bullied others in the past. People wrote in to share their stories of being bullied.  Many had been bullied twenty or even thirty years before.
Review
This book contains over one hundred of the letters of encouragement that dramatically changed the life of Olivia.  “I understand your pain.” “You are a beautiful and special girl.” “I cannot even begin to comprehend how people can be so cruel.” “ You deserve to be loved and you are!” These are the types of  messages contained in the letters.  This is an incredible and inspiring book and I would highly recommend it to all.

Interest Age/Reading Level
Recommended for ages 11 and up.

Gardner, O., Buder, E., & Buder, S. (2008). Letters to a bullied girl: messages of healing and hope. New York: Harper.