October is National Bullying Prevention Month and we’ll be devoting our October Posts to the problem of bullying!

Since the publication of my book Hot Issues, Cool Choices: Facing Bullies, Peer Pressure, Popularity, and Put-Downs, I’ve been receiving e-mails and snail mails from all over our country, Canada, Australia, Japan, and even the Ukraine.

Unfortunately, bullying is still alive and well in contemporary societies all over the world, and some of these letters are heart-rending. Some students tell me how they have been bullied to the point that they no longer want to live.

The good news is that some of my readers have found comfort in books and have discovered that they’re not alone–that there are others out there who are facing the same problems.

This is the miracle of books and literacy! Books can provide comfort and solace, books can help heal wounded souls, and books can give help to the helpless and hope to the hopeless.

One young woman wrote, “When brokenness is real, a single light can make all the difference in the world.”

 May each of us in our own way bring a light into the darkness!

 Some Recommended Books:

 Blubber by Judy Blume

Boys, Girls, and Other Hazardous Materials by Rosalind Wiseman

Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood

Confessions of a Former Bully by Trudy Ludwig

Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories by Dawn Metcalf, Megan Kelly Hall, and Carrie Jones

Hot Issues, Cool Choices: Facing Bullies, Peer Pressure, Popularity, and Put-Downs by Sandra McLeod Humphrey

Odd Girl Speaks Out by Rachel Simmons

The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake

Recommended Websites:

International Bullying Prevention Association: http://www.stopbullyingworld.org/

i-SAFE: http://www.isafe.org/

Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: http://www.olweus.org

Rachel’s Challenge: http://www.rachelschallenge.org/

Stop Bullying Now: http://www.stopbullyingnow.com/

Message from Ellen about Bullying:

 Something to Think about: Why do you think some kids bully other kids?

 “The time is always right to do what is right.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Willoughby and I thank you for dropping by and hope you’ll be back next week for some more thoughts about bullying as we continue to encourage you to DARE TO DREAM BIG!

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