FSU Libraries collaborated with Dr. Lyndsay Jenkins, Madison Woodwall, and her research team to purchase 100 children’s books that focus on childhood bullying experiences. These books show how children are affected by bullying and provides insight into how children’s literature addresses the topic. Many of these books can be found in the Juvenile collection located in the Dirac Science Library. Search the library catalog for the keywords bullying and juvenile and select Dirac Science Library as the location.
Here are a few books from that collection:
Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories
Authors: Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones
Description: Today’s top authors for teens and young people come together to share their stories about bullying—as bystanders, as victims, and as the bullies themselves—in this moving and deeply personal collection. Lauren Oliver, R. L. Stine, Ellen Hopkins, Carolyn Mackler, Kiersten White, Mo Willems, Jon Scieszka, Lauren Kate, and many more contributed 70 heartfelt and empathetic stories from each corner of the schoolyard.
In addition, Dear Bully includes resources for teens, educators, and parents, and suggestions for further reading. For those working to support social and emotional learning and anti-bullying programs, Dear Bully can help foster reflection and empathy.
Where to find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
The Recess Queen
Author: Alexis O’Neill
Description: A fresh & original twist on the common issue of bullying. Kids will relate, & parents & teachers will appreciate the story’s deft handling of conflict resolution (which happens w/o adult intervention)
Where to find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
Trouble Talk
Author: Trudy Ludwig
Description: Maya’s friend Bailey loves to talk about everything and everyone. At first, Maya thinks Bailey is funny. But when Bailey’s talk leads to harmful rumors and hurt feelings, Maya begins to think twice about their friendship.In her fourth book for children, relational aggression expert Trudy Ludwig acquaints readers with the damaging consequences of “trouble talk”-talking to others about someone else’s troubles in order to establish connection and gain attention. Includes additional resources for kids, parents, and teachers, as well as advice from Trudy about how to combat trouble talk. Trudy Ludwig’s books have sold more than 50,000 copies. Includes foreword by Dr. Charisse L. Nixon, author of Girl Wars: 12 Strategies That Will End Female Bullying.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
The Orange Shoes
Author: Trinka Hakes Noble
Description: Delly Porter has a happy life. She needs new shoes, but doesn’t really mind because she loves the soft, silky feel of the dirt road beneath her bare feet. She’s a good artist, too, even if she has to make her own art supplies. And she loves her schoolteacher, Miss Violet, who lets her help in the classroom. Life only looks brighter when Miss Violet announces the school will have a Shoebox Social to help raise funds for new art materials. But when what should be a festive occasion is threatened by prejudice and cruelty, Delly finds out that one must stay true to oneself to successfully navigate life’s joys and sorrows. From Trinka Hakes Noble, the author of The Scarlet Stockings Spy and The Last Brother, comes the story of a young girl who learns the most precious things in life are not measured in dollars and cents but by the warmth of one’s heart. And that truth, beauty, and love are in the eye of the beholder.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
Roxie and the Hooligans
Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Description: Lord Thistlebottom’s Book of Pitfalls and How to Survive Them has taught Roxie Warbler how to handle all sorts of situations. If Roxie’s ever lost in the desert, or buried in an avalanche, or caught in a dust storm, she knows just what to do. But Lord Thistlebottom has no advice to help Roxie deal with Helvetia’s Hooligans, the meanest band of bullies in school. Then Roxie finds herself stranded on a deserted island with not only the Hooligans but also a pair of crooks on the lam, and her survival skills may just save the day — and turn the Hooligans into surprising allies.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
Be Light Like a Bird
Author: Monika Schröder
Description: After the death of her father, twelve-year-old Wren finds her life thrown into upheaval. And when her mother decides to pack up the car and forces Wren to leave the only home she’s ever known; the family grows even more fractured. As she and her mother struggle to build a new life, Wren must confront issues with the environment, peer pressure, bullying, and most of all, the difficulty of forgiving those who don’t deserve it. A quirky, emotional middle grade novel set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Be Light Like a Bird features well-drawn, unconventional characters and explores what it means to be a family―and the secrets and lies that can tear one apart.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
Out of Place
Author: Jennifer Blecher
Description: When twelve-year-old Cove Bernstein becomes the target of a school-wide bullying campaign, she sets out to find a way to leave her home on Martha’s Vineyard for New York City, where her best friend lives. But Cove discovers that friends can appear in the unlikeliest places, and maybe home isn’t the worst place to be after all. Jennifer Blecher’s debut novel is a voice-driven story about bullying, friendship, and self-reliance that hits the sweet spot for fans of Ali Benjamin’s The Thing About Jellyfish and Erin Entrada Kelly’s You Go First. Twelve-year-old Cove Bernstein’s year has gone from bad to worse. First, her best friend, Nina, moved from Martha’s Vineyard to New York City. Then, without Nina around, Cove became the target of a bullying campaign at school. Escape seems impossible. But opportunities can appear when you least expect them. Cove’s visit to a secondhand clothing store leads her to a surprising chance to visit Nina, but only if she can win a coveted place in a kids-only design competition. Cove doesn’t know how to sew, but her friend at the retirement home, Anna, has promised to teach her. And things start really looking up when a new kid at school, Jack, begins appearing everywhere Cove goes. Then Cove makes a big mistake. One that could ruin every good thing that has happened to her this year. One that she doesn’t know how to undo. Jennifer Blecher’s accessible and beautifully written debut novel explores actions and consequences, loneliness, bullying, and finding your voice. This voice-driven friendship story is for fans of Rebecca Stead’s Goodbye Stranger and Jodi Kendall’s The Unlikely Story of a Pig in the City.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
My Name is Bilal
Author: Asma Mobin-Uddin
Description: When Bilal and his sister Ayesha move with their family, they have to attend a new school. They soon find out that they may be the only Muslim students there. When Bilal sees his sister bullied on their first day, he worries about being teased himself, and thinks it might be best if his classmates didn’t know that he is Muslim. Maybe if he tells kids his name is Bill, rather than Bilal, then they would leave him alone. Mr. Ali, one of Bilal’s teachers and also Muslim, sees how Bilal is struggling. He gives Bilal a book about the first person to give the call to prayer during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. That person was another Bilal: Bilal Ibn Rabah. What Bilal learns from the book forms the compelling story of a young boy grappling with his identity.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
Blubber
Author: Judy Blume
Description: What happens when teasing goes too far? This classic middle grade novel from Judy Blume addresses the timeless topic of bullying and has a fresh new look. “Blubber is a good name for her,” the note from Caroline said about Linda. Jill crumpled it up and left it on the corner of her school desk. She didn’t want to think about Linda or her dumb report on whales just then. Jill wanted to think about Halloween. But Robby grabbed the note and before Linda stopped talking it had gone halfway around the room. There was something about Linda that made a lot of kids in her fifth-grade class want to see how far they could go…but nobody, Jill least of all, expected the fun to end where it did.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
Freak the Mighty
Author: Rodman Philbrick
Description: Two boys – a slow learner stuck in the body of a teenage giant and a tiny Einstein in leg braces – forge a unique friendship when they pair up to create one formidable human force. (Made into the film, The Mighty.) * “A wonderful story of triumph over imperfection, shame, and loss.” – School Library Journal. Freak the Mighty joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content! It has been over twenty years — and more than two million copies, eight foreign editions, and a popular Miramax feature film — since the world was introduced to this powerful story of a unique friendship between a troubled, oversized boy and the tiny, physically challenged genius who proves that courage comes in all sizes.
This simple yet timeless story explores many themes, including bullying — an important topic in today’s schools. Freak the Mighty is sure to remain fresh, dramatic, and memorable for the next twenty years and beyond!
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
Out of My Mind
Author: Sharon M. Draper
Description: From multiple award-winning author Sharon Draper comes a story that will forever change how we all look at anyone with a disability, perfect for fans of RJ Palacio’s Wonder. Eleven-year-old Melody is not like most people. She can’t walk. She can’t talk. She can’t write. All because she has cerebral palsy. But she also has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school, but NO ONE knows it. Most people—her teachers, her doctors, her classmates—dismiss her as mentally challenged because she can’t tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by her disability. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
Goal!
Author: Mina Javaherbin
Description: In a dusty township in South Africa, Ajani and his friends have earned a brand-new, federation size soccer ball. They kick. They dribble. They run. They score. These clever boys are football champions! But when a crew of bullies tries to steal their ball, will Ajani and his friends be able to beat them at their own game?
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
Save Me a Seat
Author: Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan
Description: Save Me a Seat joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content! Joe and Ravi might be from very different places, but they’re both stuck in the same place: SCHOOL. Joe’s lived in the same town all his life, and was doing just fine until his best friends moved away and left him on his own. Ravi’s family just moved to America from India, and he’s finding it pretty hard to figure out where he fits in. Joe and Ravi don’t think they have anything in common — but soon enough they have a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and a common mission: to take control of their lives over the course of a single crazy week.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
Runt
Author: Nora Raleigh Baskin
Description: The award-winning author of Anything But Typical “delivers an honest message about surviving bad situations and remaining true to oneself and one’s friends” (Publishers Weekly) in this insightful exploration of middle school bullying from multiple perspectives. Elizabeth Moon grew up around dogs. Her mom runs a boarding kennel out of their home, so she’s seen how dogs behave to determine pack order. Her experience in middle school is uncomfortably similar.
Maggie hates how Elizabeth acts so much better than everyone else. Besides, she’s always covered in dog hair. And she smells. So Maggie creates a fake profile on a popular social networking site to teach Elizabeth a lesson. What makes a bully, and what makes a victim? It’s all in the perspective, and the dynamics shift. From sibling rivalries to mean girl antics, the varying points of view show the many shades of gray in this illuminating novel from the award-winning author of Anything But Typical—because middle school is anything but black and white.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
Ugly
Author: Robert Hoge
Description: When Robert Hoge was born, he had a tumor the size of a tennis ball in the middle of his face and short, twisted legs. Surgeons removed the tumor and made him a new nose from one of his toes. Amazingly, he survived—with a face that would never be the same. Strangers stared at him. Kids called him names, and adults could be cruel, too. Everybody seemed to agree that he was “ugly.” But Robert refused to let his face define him. He played pranks, got into trouble, had adventures with his big family, and finally found a sport that was perfect for him to play. And Robert came face to face with the biggest decision of his life, he followed his heart.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available for Curbside Pickup.
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