Megan Hall - Dear Bully

Dear Bully

70 AUTHORS TELL THEIR STORIES

edited by

Megan Kelley Hall & Carrie Jones

Dedication

For our daughters

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Introduction - Why Do We Celebrate Bullying? by Ellen Hopkins

Dear BullyDear Bully by Laurie Faria Stolarz Love Letter to My Bully by Tonya Hurley Dear Audrey by Courtney Sheinmel Slammed by Marlene Perez My Apology by Marina Cohen Dear Samantha by Kieran Scott

Just KiddingStench by Jon Scieszka What I Wanted to Tell You by Melissa Schorr Subtle Bullying by Rachel Vail Hiding Me by R. A. Nelson Midsummer’s Nightmare by Holly Cupala BFFBOTT.COM by Lisa McMann An Innocent Bully by Linda Gerber The Secret by Heather Brewer The Funny Guy by R.L. Stine

SurvivalA List by Micol Ostow There’s a Light by Saundra Mitchell The Soundtrack to My Survival by Stephanie Kuehnert If Mean Froze by Carrie Jones Abuse by Lucienne Diver The Boy Who Won’t Leave Me Alone by A. S. King break my heart by Megan Kelley Hall End of the World by Jessica Brody Girl Wars by Crissa-Jean Chappell The Curtain by Deborah Kerbel

RegretThe Eulogy of Ivy O’Conner by Sophie Jordan Regret by Lisa Yee Karen by Nancy Werlin Surviving Alfalfa by Teri Brown When I Was a Bully, Too by Melissa Walker Carol by Amy Goldman Koss Never Shut Up by Kiersten White The Day I Followed by Eric Luper

Thank You, FriendsThe Alphabet by Laura Kasischke They Made Me Do It and I’m Sorry by Cecil Castellucci, illustrated by Lise Bernier Simplehero by Debbie Rigaud Isolation by Cynthia Leitich Smith Luz by Melodye Shore Dear Caroline from Canada by Carrie Ryan The Blue-Eyed Girl by Jocelyn Maeve Kelley Frenemies Are Not Friends by Michelle Zink

InsightThe Other Side by Nancy Holder Can We Make This Letter Disappear? by Sara Bennett Wealer Bully on the Ledge by Kurtis Scaletta Informed Consent by Lara Zeises Silent All These Years by Alyson Noël Now and Then by Aprilynne Pike Strangers on a Street by Diana Rodriguez Wallach Objects in Mirror Are More Complex Than They Appear by Lauren Oliver

SpeakLevels by Tanya Lee Stone Slivers of Purple Paper by Cyn Balog The Sound of Silence by Claudia Gabel Starship Suburbia by Maryrose Wood Kicking Stones at the Sun by Jo Knowles Memory Videos by Nancy Garden Finding Light in the Darkness by Lisa Schroeder

Write ItThe Sandwich Fight by Steven E. Wedel Fearless by Jeannine Garsee Without Armor by Daniel Waters The Seed by Lauren Kate

Its Gets BetterNow by Amy Reed Standing Tall by Dawn Metcalf The Superdork of the Fifth-Grade Class of 1989 by Kristin Harmel “Who Gives the Popular People Power? Who???” by Megan McCafferty “That Kid” by Janni Lee Simner This Is Me by Erin Dionne Bullies for Me by Mo Willems To Carolyn Mackler, From Elizabeth in ILDear Elizabeth by Carolyn Mackler

Resources for Teens

Resources for Educators and Parents

Acknowledgments

Contributors

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

Introduction

Why Do We Celebrate Bullying?

by Ellen Hopkins

I know bullying. Personally and through my children. In elementary school, I was smart. Sort of pretty. A talented equestrian, singer, dancer, and creative writer. I was also chubby. Not obese. Not even fat, really. But not a skinny jeans kind of girl. You know, the kid who other kids called “Elsie the cow.” Luckily, I was strong—the kid who let insults roll off her because she knew in her heart she was destined to do great things.

That strength came from my parents, who believed in me. In turn, I believe in my children. My oldest son, Jason, is gay. He knew it before I did, and so when the bullying began, he knew why. But I didn’t. Never underestimate the power of a mother bear, and I became one. At the time, bullying wasn’t new, but confronting it was. School counselors told me to leave it alone. Things would get better. They didn’t. To escape the torment in California, Jason chose to live with his father (my ex) in New Mexico.

Wy youngest child, Orion, is almost fourteen. He isn’t gay, but he is chubby. He was teased some in elementary school, but the real bullying began last year, in seventh grade. One kid was largely at the heart of it. I started hearing his name in September, when he began calling Orion gay. Why does that term, accurate or not, jumpstart abusive behavior? Over the course of the year, this kid and his friends volleyed relentless verbal attacks that eventually became physical. Orion was shoved, pushed to the ground, hit, and once had his head slammed into a locker.

This time the school had no choice but to get involved. Suspending the bully for a day or five didn’t really faze him, however. I tried calling his parents. His mother’s reaction was, “My child would never do such a thing.” But he did, and it continued until one afternoon when Orion was followed off the school bus by a friend of the bully’s—a high school senior—who grabbed Orion by the throat with both hands. Fortunately, a passerby prevented what might have been an even worse incident. I’d had enough. I called the sheriff, who sent a deputy to address the issue. The bully’s parents brought him over to apologize. This year, everything seems to be in a holding pattern.

Orion is not alone. The statistics, in fact, are staggering. From 2009 surveys we find:

• More than seventy-five percent of our students are subjected to harassment by a bully or cyberbully and experience physical, psychological, and/or emotional abuse.

• More than twenty percent of our kids admit to being a bully or participating in bullylike activities.

• On a daily average 160,000 children miss school because they fear they will be bullied if they attend classes.

• On a monthly average 282,000 students are physically attacked by a bully.

Surprised? Why? Not only do many Americans tolerate bullying, they stand in the wings and cheer it on. In fact, there lately seems to be a real celebration of violent attacks against people who are different. If you don’t believe me, spend a little time reading the comments following a news story about, oh, say, a mosque burning on U.S. soil.

Forget the fact that most of these people are citizens of the United States of America—a country founded on the principles of religious freedom. Yet because Muslims are “different,” they are bullied, in much the same way a child who is different is bullied at school. Chubby or skinny; geek smart or challenged; gay or perceived that way; black, brown, yellow, or any color other than the person hurling insults. Any of these things can make someone a target.

Some might argue this is simply the evolutionary byproduct of survival of the fittest. That all animals weed out the weak. But the human animal has a brain capable of compassion. What’s lacking is the will to embrace someone who’s different. Not only are we reminded daily of those differences by loud-mouthed pundits, but those same political shock jocks encourage fear-based reactions to those who are different. They whip their listeners into frenzied overreactions, with results like the cab driver who was shot for admitting his religious affiliation. Or places of worship being torched.