3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Erase the Problem of Bullying is a nonfiction book for young people who are experiencing bullying. The author is Jill Ammon Vanderwood, and there are many contributing experts from celebrities and self-esteem experts, to children who are experiencing bullying, have experienced bullying, or have acted as bullies.
The book is organized into parts that describe, through real stories, different types of bullying. It covers bullying because of race, sexual orientation, disability, religion and cyber bullying. It also uses stories to highlight the kind of bullying that happens just because your mom is a garbage collector, just because your clothes are worn, just because you're new here, just because you're different than me and simply, just because.
Each part has a different author who is either sharing their experience or their expertise. Several sections are written in the style of an interview. For example, twelve year old Riley answers questions such as "How did the bullying start?" and "Did you tell anyone?". Other sections are written as a narrative and many include direct messages of encouragement to those who might be experiencing bullying. When writing about bullying because of race, Keesha Parsons advises "...be secure in your person and remain strong and realize that there will always be people against you who try to stop you. Never let another’s view of you get in the way of your goals. Stay focused."
I really enjoyed the fact that this book had many contributors sharing a message of hope and encouragement. The stories were those that many young people will be able to relate to. They included the perspectives of those who had very recently experienced bullying to those who had moved on and achieved great success. I love that the author included a list of celebrities who have disabilities and a list of celebrities who were bullied.
For the most part, the book gave real advice and concrete suggestions to young people. However, there were a couple of sections that read more like teasers for the contributing author's work. This is true of the section written by the director and founder of a nonprofit organization called Kidpower Teenpower Fullpower International. In this section, I mainly learned about all of the services, books and videos that Kidpower has to offer.
I liked this book and the message it has for young people. I would recommend it to victims of bullying, bullies and bystanders who are as young as ten, right through high school. I would also recommend it to parents who might be concerned that their children fall into one of those categories. It's worth noting that there are several resources listed at the end of the book. The promotional nature of some sections has me rating the book 3 out of 4 stars.
******
Erase the Problem of Bullying
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Elaine5's review? Post a comment saying so!
