Knock It Out: Inoculating Our Students from Bullying by Kathy Halsey

We can inoculate our students with preventative steps from great reads to online resources. The key is to start early in the school year and choose the appropriate resource for the grade level. Books such as Jacqueline Woodson's EACH KINDNESS to R. J. Palacio's WONDER will help inform our discussion on how to heal our students and choose kindness. October is Anti-Bullying Month. Today is October 1, so let the book talks begin! 

Just like Momma's homemade chicken soup, books are good for what ails us. In "library land," we librarians call this therapy bibliotherapy. These mentor texts that help guard against bullying are fun, not didactic, and have a great story arc. Here's a sampling of titles I discussed at a teacher/library/author inservice at the Paradise Valley school district. 

Every Cowgirl Goes to School: Rebecca Janni, illus. Lynne Avril

Ole Nelly Sue's day goes from bad to worse at the beginning of the school year. Seems her BFF has a new friend and they're whispering about Nelly, or so she thinks. Poor Nelly is humiliated when new girl Maya draws her as an actual COW girl and all the kids "moo." Reality vs. perceived actions is the theme in this PB. Teachers/caregivers can have a great discussion via what your actions say and what you REALLY mean.

I'm throwing in a few links that you can use for teachers' guides if you're writing an ms with a bullying theme. OR, you can share these like with teachers, librarian friends, parents or caregivers. All curated by me, your friendly former K-12 librarian. 

1. From the HuffPo: A school counselor, licensed social worker and therapist defines and differentiates between being rude, being mean and being a bully. Examples of each behavior are given, also.

2. A Mighty Girl: Follow on Facebook or the blog. A Mighty Girl has a plethora of resources to keep our girls strong and emotionally stable before bullying starts. In this particular post a 14-year-old girl stands on a graffiti-covered rock with comments that demean her. The picture's gone viral, reaching over 4 million people. Discusses the pervasive problem of cyber-bullying. (for tweens and teens.)

3. Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center: This site breaks out resources by grade level and includes a bullying pledge.The End of Bullying Begins with Me is the message during PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Month, October.

 

Now, back to a few more books...

The Recess Queen by Alexis O’Neill, illus. by Laura Huliska-Beith 

Kindness and friendship have power in this picture book when new girl, Katie Sue, puts Mean Jean in her place in the school yard. If Jean is crossed she’ll “push’em and smoosh’em, lollopo’loosh ‘em. Hammer’em, slammer ’em ” What fun language to get across a message! The book includes diverse characters and shows girls are just as capable of being bullies. 

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, illus. by E. B. Lewis

Gorgeous collaboration between Woodson & Lewis who have worked together before. The PB won the Jane Adams Peace Association Award and is a perfect book for the first quarter of the year to set a classroom tone of respect and thoughtfulness. Share this book from grades K-5. The power here is the sparse language paired with a message about how even children exclude children who are poor from their friendships. Yes, Chloe is black and Maya, the ostracized student, is white; but this has no bearing on the story. Educators and caregivers can recreate Ms. Albert's exercise in throwing peebles into a bowl of water for acts of kindness with their students.

So share those books & resources and let's inoculate against the bullying bug NOW. Kindly share your go-to bullying resources in the comments section, please.  

So Many Books, So Little Time. . . . Summer Reading Recommendations from Christy Mihaly, and Cheddar the dog

                                      Cheddar is ready for reading!  (Photo by Cameron Field)

What's one of the first rules for writers?  Read, read, read -- right?  And what's summer for, if it's not for catching up on our reading!

Are you looking for some summer reading inspiration? Here are four Cheddar-approved suggestions from my reading pile. I've picked out a little of everything:  novels, nonfiction, history, for adults and kids . . . they're all good reads.

Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline.

Fiction, 2013.  304 pages.

Mollie, a contemporary "goth" teen in an unhappy foster care situation, and Vivian, an elderly neighbor who lives alone, strike up an unlikely friendship. As a community service project, Mollie is assigned to help Vivian clean out her attic. The wary teen gradually warms to the private old woman, as the story of Vivian's dramatic, unhappy past unfolds. Vivian narrates her experiences immigrating from Ireland to New York, riding the "orphan train" to Minnesota, being thrust from one home to the next through a tumultuous childhood. Mollie learns she can help Vivian solve some of the mysteries of her past. This books is a well-researched window onto the experiences of the young riders of the Orphan Trains, which plied the midwest bringing orphans for adoption by whoever showed up. (Be sure to check out the back matter.)

Why read it?  First, for the beauty of the story; second, for fascinating insight into the Orphan Trains; and third, to appreciate the book's structure: a modern story in third person, and a historical fiction account, in first person, woven into a powerful novel.

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell 
Fiction, 2006.  304 pages.  YA/adult.

Thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor narrates in this book by David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas. Jason faces the traumas, trials, and tribulations of middle school in a small English village.  Thirteen chapters, which read like short stories, each cover a month, and detail Jason's struggles with a speech impediment (he tries to hide a debilitating stammer) and the slow, painful dissolution of his parents' marriage. Political and social details (Margaret Thatcher, the Falklands War, no e-mail) bring the time period -- the early 1980's -- fully alive. The book can be hard to take because of the bullying Jason faces, but Jason is genuinely funny, and it's ultimately a hopeful book.  

Why read it?  Mitchell does a brilliant job portraying his bullied but smart and likable young character.  As an added bonus, you'll learn lots of teen slang from the UK (from the 1980's).  You might want to know that the book has been banned by some U.S. school districts as too raunchy for young teens. For mature readers and writers, it's a shining example of nailing that 13-year-old voice.

Wonder, by R.J. Palacio
Fiction, 2012.  320 pages, grade level 3-7.

I picked this book up because it was the 2014 selection for "Vermont Reads," a program in which community members of all ages read and discuss a chosen book.  (It also won this year's Dorothy Canfield Fisher award, based on voting by Vermont's fourth through eighth graders.) From the opening paragraph, I couldn't put it down. The ten-year-old main character, Augie, is "an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face."  Born with severe facial disfigurements, even after numerous reconstructive surgeries, he says his face still causes kids to "run away screaming in playgrounds." Augie tells us, "I won't describe what I look like.  Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse."  Augie has brains and a great sense of humor, and as he faces predictable bullying, hostility, and heartbreak, we see him, and those around him, growing in understanding and courage. The story is told in short (generally one or two-page) chapters. There are eight parts, each with a distinct narrator:  Augie (he gets three parts), two of his friends, his sister Via, Via's boyfriend Justin, and her friend Miranda.  Although this multiplicity of narrators can disrupt the flow, the kids' different points of view add to our depth of understanding.  

Why read it?  Palacio has created a memorable and believable young character, whose story will stay with you. The book may also, as the author intends, help us -- and help us to help our kids --to choose kindness.

The Lost City of Z:  A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon 
by David Grann

Nonfiction, 2009.  448 pages (including lots of juicy back matter).
As a nonfiction writer, I'm always on the lookout for models of lively nonfiction, and one of my favorite sources is the articles in The New Yorker.  Grann, a New Yorker staff writer, wrote this riveting account of his own travels and research following the trail of the lost Amazon explorer Percy Fawcett, one of the last great Victorian explorers, who vanished in the Amazon jungle in 1927.  Weaving together Fawcett's biography, tales of the many would-be rescuers who perished seeking him after his disappearance, and the modern archeologists who have carried on Fawcett's visionary work, Grann spins a riveting story.  He spent years researching, including finding long-lost family documents, and months struggling through the Amazonian jungle. 

Why read it?  It's a great -- and true -- story! The research is outstanding. If you want to make your nonfiction writing a compelling read, study this book.  

So -- let us know what you think of these books, or if you have other suggestions -- and HAPPY READING!

- Christy Mihaly, and Cheddar