Storytelling through books can often help us see things in a new way.
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The Outcasts
by Misty Hayes
Mystical relics. Powerful vampires. Strange allies. It's hell being a teenager. Larna Collins has never understood why her dad skipped out on her and her mother when she was twelve years old. Until then, he was a devoted and loving father. But six years later, during a renovation of her childhood home, she unearths her father's journal from under a dusty floorboard. According to his final entry before he left, he had recently visited a small parish in England. The entries draw her to this seemingly quaint village, which Larna discovers isn't as charming as its blood-craving inhabitants want her…View this book -
A Boy Called Duct Tape
by Christopher Cloud
Pablo Perez is a 12-year-old poor kid without much going for him. His classmates have dubbed him "Duct Tape" because his tattered discount-store sneakers are held together with...you guessed it, duct tape. He can't escape the bullying. Pablo's luck, however, changes after he finds a $20 gold coin while swimming with his sister in a river near their home. Pablo later buys a $1 treasure map at the county fair. The map shows the route to the "lost treasure" of Jesse James. Pablo can't help but wonder: Is there a link between the map and the gold coin? He is…View this book -
Raman and Sunny: Middle School Blues
by Fiza Pathan
Middle School is the worst period in a child's life. He or she has to undergo bullying, and an often painful transition from childhood to young adulthood. It is also a period most neglected at home and in school, for the child grows rebellious as he feels he is misunderstood and unjustly dealt with. Parents feel helpless to interfere. Imagine what then can be the plight of twins? Set in teeming, exotic Mumbai, India, this is the story about Raman and Sunny who are twins. Their childhood period was full of companionship and love and healthy competition. But with their…View this book -
My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain
by Rich Samuels
Thirteen year-old Alexander's fear of bullying is so extreme, he nearly becomes a bully himself. He's sure that bullies are lurking around every corner in his middle school. He's certain that wedgies, swirlies and pantsings are just waiting to happen. He's even created a smartphone app to help him in his epic battle. He knows just when to pass through the school gate in the morning (7:54 a.m.), how to move through the hallways (fast!) and even how to eat (no condiments!). When Melvin, a boy in his social studies class, says he wants to talk to him after school,…View this book -
You Can't Shatter Me
by Tahlia Newland
When superhero wanna-be, Carly, stands up to a bully, he turns on her, forcing her to battle cutting words, flying hooks, a doubt dragon and a suffocating closet. Her karate-trained boyfriend, Dylan's desire to stop the harassment sets off a struggle to control his inner caveman. Meanwhile, Carly searches for inner strength and a peaceful solution. Will she find it before Dylan resorts to violence? This heart-warming magical realism story offers real solutions for handling bullying that will inspire and empower teens and adults alike.View this book -
Fraidie
by Andrea Malamut
FRAIDIE is a lower middle grade novel that views bullying through the quirky lens and offbeat humor of an eleven-year-old girl who finds the courage to face her biggest fears. Sadie barely gets out the door for school in the morning. Her habits and superstitions are taking over her life. What’s worse, the kids in school have nicknamed her Fraidie because she worries about everything. Determined to lose the nickname Fraidie by the time she enters middle school, Fraidie performs a “spectacular act of bravery” in front of the entire fifth grade...but things don't go as planned.View this book -
Gang Territory
by Peter St. John
In the autumn of 1940, a youngster, bombed out from an orphanage in London, arrives in the village of Widdlington to live with his pious spinster aunt. The village, far from being a peaceful haven, is divided into several gang territories each with its leader and its traditional customs and taboos. The new arrival, searching to belong, must thread his way through these territorial minefields. In so doing, he makes various friends, allies and enemies. Violence is part of the scene and the evacuee knows that sooner or later he must either fight the school bully or submit to his…View this book -
Good-bye, Pittsburgh
by Mary Lou Reed
In the years following America's victory over Germany and Japan, the heady exhilaration of winning the war begins to fade in post-war Pittsburgh. The spewing filth of the steel mills and the stinging aftermath of the war take their toll on the Donatti family. Better jobs await them in California, and the family plans to head west. Ten-year-old Marianne isn't happy about leaving her home, and she likes it even less when she and her family move into her grandmother's house for six months before heading to California. From the start, Marianne dislikes the new street and the mean kids…View this book -
invisible-i-am
by Gregg Davis
Harriet Showman's invisible-i-am by Gregg Davis is a powerful story that offers a wrenching, empathetic look at the experience of high school bullying and sexual assault through a victim's eyes. Through the perspective of a wiser-than-her-years 16-year-old narrator, invisible-i-am tackles issues of violence and oppression, the clash between identity and invisibility, and the necessity of self-determination. Vigorously independent in many respects, invisible-i-am challenges traditional notions of storytelling in the YA book industry with its dark, idiosyncratic humor, unflinching portrayal of abuse, and plot twists that peel back layers of family and community intrigue to address the impact of oppression in…View this book
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