Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories, edited by Dawn Metcalf, et al.
A lot of writers for teens have excellent memories for very painful things. Some remember what it was like to be a targeted teen--the dread of going to school every day knowing what would probably happen, whether it was going to happen in a hallway, a locker room, a classroom, or on a school bus. Being pulled apart emotionally and humiliated was often just an everyday occurrence for them. The usual.
But some writers remember high school very differently. They were the people who just stood to one side AND DIDN’T DO ANYTHING while watching their friends and classmates being bullied. And in a few, a very few, cases they did the bullying themselves. Dear Bully is a collection of reflections of writers for teens who share their true stories of hurt and regret and how these experiences changed them.
These are deeply personal and moving stories. They’re quick. There’s no need to read all of them, but you may want to. Because every single one of these writers was a teen who survived, and took all that bad stuff, and put it into his or her writings so that you can read them and know that you are not alone.