Author: Patricia Polacco
Illustrator: Patricia Polacco
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons,
Age: 7 and up
Topic: Friendship, Cyberbullying, Bullies, Popularity, Schools
Opening: It was the first day at my new school.
Summary: Sixth-grade friends Lyla and Jamie, both new to their school, stand up for each other when a clique of popular girls bullies them online.
Resources:
Facts about Bullying. How to identify a bully activity at Learning to Give
Top tips for kids. More tips at Teaching Tolerance.
Our Stories Count has some excellent classroom activities to get discussions and conversations going about bullying.
What I like about the book:
Lyla moves to a new home and is nervous about her first day at her new school. When she is there, she meets another student, Jamie who is also new. They become friends. When Lyla becomes friends with 3 of the popular girls in school, she begins to learn that they are not her real friend when they make her leave her friend Jamie and begin to make fun of him on facebook. When Lyla finally decides to stand up for Jamie, her "friends" turn on her. Lyla soon is faced with a bombardment of cyber bullying, threats and finally she is accused of cheating. Bullying has become a huge problem in our schools. The end results of such bullying has taken lives of innocent children. The last page provides a thought provoking question to the reader, What would you do? It is time we start at an early age teaching children what a bully is, how to protect themselves from bullies and how to stand up for others who are bullied.
1 comment:
Thank you Patricia Polacco for writing a book about something kids face every day! We need books where kids can see themselves in the story - but it's a sad comment on our society that this is one situation children see themselves in every day.
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