The Revealers

The Revealers #1

by Doug Wilhelm

Throwing light on a dark problem

Parkland Middle School is a place the students call Darkland, because no one in it does much to stop the daily harassment of kids by other kids. Three bullied seventh graders use their smarts to get the better of their tormentors by starting an unofficial e-mail forum at school in which they publicize their experiences. Unexpectedly, lots of other kids come forward to confess their similar troubles, and it becomes clear that the problem at their school is bigger than anyone knew. The school principal wants to clamp down on the operation, which she does when the trio, in their zealousness for revenge, libel a fellow student in what turns out to have been a setup. Now a new plan of attack is needed . . .

This suspenseful story of computer-era underground rebellion offers fresh perspectives on some of the most enduring themes in fiction for young readers.   The Revealers is a 2004 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, School, Middle Grade, Childrens, Coming Of Age

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Doug Wilhelm is the author of 17 books for young readers, including Street of Storytellers, a multi-award winning novel for YA and adult readers:

• Gold medal, YA fiction, 2020 Independent Press Awards
• Silver medal, teen fiction, 2020 Benjamin Franklin Awards
• Winner, young adult books, 2019 Independent Publishers of New England Book Awards
• Kirkus Reviews Indie Editors Choice

Doug's previous books include The Revealers, a novel about bullying that has been the focus of reading-and-discussion projects in over 1,000 U.S. middle schools, and True Shoes, the Revealers sequel on cyberbullying. Doug began writing for young people with the legendary Choose Your Own Adventure series, for which he has written 10 books. When he visits schools to talk about his books, kids notice that he is six feet ten inches tall!

http://www.dougwilhelm.com/
http://us.macmillan.com/author/dougwi...

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you remember being in the seventh grade? I remember it as being the most difficult year, socially, with its only rival being the eighth grade. Some of the kids were horrible to each other, and of course this is at the most impressionable age where you remember everything that was said for the rest of your life. Me, I was happy to have my one true friend, and remain invisible the rest of the time.

The Revealers is a powerful story about three seventh-graders who were tired of being picked on and decided to figure out scientifically why bullies act the way they do. By using a closed Internet system designed specifically for their school, they were able to e-mail their stories to everyone in the seventh grade. The response was instantaneous! Other students wanted their stories to be known as well, so "The Revealers" was created: a newsletter that they put out for the entire student body to read on their own personal e-mail accounts. It included stories written anonymously to share personal accounts of bullying and being bullied. All is going well for the three students until their system is abused and the principal revokes all computer communication privileges from the entire school. But it doesn't end here. These three students come up with a brilliant way to find justice—for everyone.

This book is so very easy to relate to and so very hard to put down. It will make you laugh out loud and take you down memory lane, to when you were fourteen. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks they were treated unfairly at one point in time or another.

[Anna-Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Revealers is a about three stdents, Russell, Elliot, and Catalina, at Parkland Middle School who want to reveal all the bullying tha is happening to them and in thier school. The three students end up making a blog ware evrybody in the school can put up their stories and experiences around bullying. At the end they made a science fair project around their blog and the judges really enjoyed it. I would reccomend this book to people or students because it really brings out the backstage of this school and all schools.

[Lori Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is required summer reading for Zack, so I read it, too. An interesting take on bullying. I could see, though, how The Bully Lab could quickly become a slippery slope. Telling your story publicly can make a profound difference in how people act and react to each other. However, it can also be a way for people to bully each other further under the guise of being a victim. There are lots of shades of grey.

I write a blog, and occasionally get (usually anonymous) comments calling me out for something. On the occasions when I've allowed the comment to be published, or tried to discuss it on the blog or social media, the backlash was awful. Even if the anonymous bully was completely off mark, inevitably I would be called out for being negative by even discussing what had been written to me. After a time, I became afraid to say ANYTHING that wasn't unicorns and glitter.

I do believe in having the chance to question why someone acts a certain way towards you or someone else. You just have to be prepared for the answer, because sometimes we DO bring the junk down on ourselves by how WE are acting. I wish people would feel freer to have honest discourse without someone flying off the handle. It's not easy seeing both sides sometimes. It's even harder to decide if you need to change a behavior, WANT to change a behavior, or feel "this is me, my personality". I would rather lose a "friend" than be lied to, and I wish bullies would take their anger/disgust/annoyance and turn it into building more meaningful relationships with their friends. Why waste time trying to humiliate me when you're not even interested in finding out who I really am, and put that energy into something you enjoy and into the friends you like.

Everyone could do with more compassion. That's a lot to ask of a middle schooler, and this book's premise helps people see both sides. Rarely is a bully a truly evil person. Too often, people don't see all aspects of a person or stop to think before saying or doing something cutting.

And unfortunately, bullying happens way past middle school. I'm hopeful that kids who read books like this one will think twice, and let the book's lessons help shape them as adults.

[Deepa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very inspiring. I think it has a cool perspective and "voice" on bullying. My favorite part was seeing how the characters change over the course of the book. I also enjoyed the ending and seeing how the three main characters take the bullying at their school and morph it into something that is both informative and raises awareness. A great read and I would recommend it to any middle schooler.

[Lindsay · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think it's BORING!

[Avery · Rating 2 out of 5]

DONT WASTE YOUR TIME READING THIS DUMB BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!unless you really,really,really,really,really,really x 10000000000000000 want to read it

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot to love about this book. A Truncated Teacher Checklist:
1. Addresses bullying.
2. Emphasizes the power of collective action.
3. Emphasizes nonviolence.
4. Questions adult logic and power.
5. Encourages critical thinking and creativity, especially with technology.

All of these are great talking points, and make me excited to start the year with this text. I really, really love the structure of Wilhelm's power dynamics; they feel like a real school, in a real place, with real students who don't feel like they have enough of a voice in their education and safety. The emotional turbulence of bullying is raw, and addressed in a way that gives the reader a clear sense of how to solve problems in the real world (without going to prison! Huzzah!).

However, a few things also give me pause. These are not criticisms, not at all. They're really just some rough patches in the book, which I think a healthy Socratic seminar could smoothe over.

A Longer Teacher Checklist:
1. The book panders to kids. There are moments where it's trying SO HARD to speak to students, that I think it might lose them. In the ways that Wilhelm tries to bring in student vernacular, I think he misses the mark sometimes (i.e., "I'll give ya a knuckle sandwich, sonny!"). Corny, but cute.

2. The book relies on a gender binary. Several cringe-worthy moments in this book assert that "that's just what boys/girls do," even coming from the adult characters. Readers are left with the impression that boys only pursue physical violence and namecalling, and girls stick to psychological torture and slutshaming (or namecalling, in cases of "liking" the boys). It lacks nuance, which I think would lend it greater authenticity.

3. The book does not address homophobic bullying, even though there IS a case of it. A student is bullied: kids call him "gay" and "sissy," but the student is not gay. All he wants is to "punch those guys in the face," thereby asserting his masculinity and deviating sharply from the larger message of this book.

What if he was gay, and those words hurt? Would the school in this novel still embrace him? Would my school embrace him?

I think homophobic bullying is the most consistent and the most offhand kind of bullying in middle school; kids say "you're such a fag" without even understanding what they're saying. Why not confront that action head on? Why mention it in passing? At a time when some states are fighting for their rights to hate gay people after the gay marriage ruling, it would be nice to see a little more weight to this particular student's story.

But again, these are NOT criticisms.

This is a great book for middle school. It's a great springboard into all sorts of different conversations about racism, misogyny, ageism, and yes, even homophobia. I look forward to a brighter school year because of this book.

Buy this title from Powell's Books.

[Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a tough start and I think it might lose a lot of middle schoolers just because it's so hard to get into initially. The author's writing comes across almost as stream of consciousness at some points. There were several run on sentences I had to read, re-read, and then look at one last time before I figured out what he was saying. I don't think the average middle schooler is going to be willing to put that kind of effort into a book two pages in.

Once you get into the book it really is a good portayal of bullying in a modern school. I felt like I got some genuine insight into what kids who are bullied feel like and I appreciated the incorporation of modern technology in a realistic way. The students use the school intranet to start reporting bullying incidents and the school responds by sending in their own anonymous reports.

A good story is muddled by overly complicated writing, characters that often seemed under developed in spite of the wordiness, and a lot of descriptions about dinosaur life that I can only hope would appeal to male readers because it just about lost me.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I'm not a huge fan of the illustration on the cover, I'm a big fan of the book. Three middle school students have been bullied for quite a while. Elliot is smaller and very smart, picked on by many of his schoolmates. Russell has a run-in with the rough, tough school bully, who now frequently beats Russell up. Catalina is the new girl in school, having moved from the Philippines, and the most popular girl in school has made her a target. When these three students come together, they decide to change their school culture by revealing the truth about bullying.

I really like this book. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because the principal in this book sets such a bad example. She doesn't feel that bullying is an issue in the school, and refuses to do anything to help students who are picked on. I wish that the authority figure had a few redeeming traits.

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three kids who get picked on a lot team up and fight back against bullies, and discover that the pen is truly mightier than the sword. It verges on preachy, and the initial reaction to the first letter (which was a lengthy "I'm a person too!"; reaction was everyone being nicer to her and nobody making fun of it) was pretty unrealistic.

This is a Book About Bullying, and not a story in its own right. It's sure to appear on countless summer reading lists, but the truth is that it's just not that good a book--it's all caught up in its Message, at the expense of character development and decent writing. Fine to use in schools with class discussion, but not something middle-schoolers would actively seek out to read.

[Corrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book to see if it would work to help facilitate discussion on cyberbullying, but it wasn't really what I was looking for. A group of kids use what is essentially a "Moodle" or "Blackboard" space to send all school emails revealing bullying incidents anonymously. The students are trying to get back at the bullies using the computer as a medium for disclosing their activities. While it could facilitate the discussion of the power the internet has given us to self-publish for all the world to see, it seemed almost like a bullying the bullies through the use of computers (pretty much the opposite of what i was going for). Also, it was pretty boring, so I didn't see students reading it AND the characters were overly stereotyped.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an easy read and a middle school boy being bullied and how he struggles each day with trying to avoid the bully. This would be a great book for a teacher to read to a class in the beginning of year. After reading the book I met the author and he shared with the audience that the book was about his struggles in middle school and how he was bullied forty years ago.

[Chanarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really good. At first it seemed kind of boring, but the suspense kept growing and growing. i would suggest that everyone who is entering middle school should read this book. It brought me back to some of my expirences of bullying when i was in 6th grade

[Annarenee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is about a boy named Russle, another boy named Elliot who only thinks about dinosaurs, and a girl named Catalina. they are all having problems with bullying by different people. They group up and be like "scientist" and try to figure out how to make it stop.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is imperative that teachers and students discuss bullying more in schools, especially in the middle grades where research shows that the most bullying takes place. And not only in the Friday Advisement class meetings, but more effectively though novels and memoirs.

The Revealers would be a great choice for a middle school whole-class read or included with 4-5 other novels that address bullying for students to read and discuss in book clubs, comparing issues raised with books being read by all the book clubs. There are many advantages to reading this novel. Bullying is the entire focus of the novel—not just a side issue. The story emphasizes the efficacy of cooperative action when three students who are bullied collaborate on facing bullying with nonviolent action, scientifically studying why students bully. They share, and others begin sharing, their stories as victims and bullies to be posted on school-wide media.

The book highlights creative solutions to problems, using the scientific method, and the three students’ research—in cooperation with many members of the student body, including the school’s most feared bully—becomes a science fair exhibit which brings the problem to the notice of the principal and a school board member. The novel highlights the problem of administrative denial and even acceptance, which, unfortunately, is too realistic.

My one concern is that there is one page containing a few minor profanities (i.e., damn). While it may be realistic for that character, I found it unnecessary and even a jolt as it didn’t fit in with the dialogue in the novel, even the harsh words of bullies. Many teachers, especially of young adolescents, face parental concerns with required readings. As a book club choice, this novel may be able to be included with an explanatory note to parents. We can protest that adolescents and heard and used these words, but some parents see this as teacher approval. I do wish authors would take into consideration that “realistic” is not always “necessary.” However, that issue does not override my recommendation of this novel for middle-grade reading and discussion.

As I wrote in No More “Us” and “Them”: Classroom Lessons & Activities to Promote Peer Respect (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012), “There are many ways for teachers to use literature in the classroom to facilitate building respect both for other students and for other peoples and to help their students acquire self-respect. Stories give readers different perspectives and can place them in positions and situations in which they have never been; stories let the readers take part in experiences outside their realms.”

[Cassidy Hluchan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book "The Revealers" by Doug Wilhelm taught me that even though the odds are against you, you can still turn those odds around and change everything for the better. I will be honest; this book was not my favorite. I knew from the beginning the major conflict was that kids were getting bullied, but I didn't know how they were going to resolve the conflict until much later in the book. This problem made it very hard to keep reading. I also didn't like how the book ended. I will not spoil it, but to say the least, there were too many loose ends that just left you there to wonder what happens. I still enjoy books that have maybe one or two loose ends, but not as many as this book had. Also, there were some events in the story that were a little unrealistic. Again, I do not want to spoil it, but some of the bullying "accidents" were very harsh and the outcome was very minimal. After a huge blowout like the one I am talking about, I would expect a little more oomph at the end of it all. Even though the book had some low moments, there were some positives about the book too. I did like how every little detail of the book meant something to the main story going on. For example, the way the characters called their school Darkland instead of Parkland gave the book a little sense of seriousness that casted over the whole book when you read. What I really did love about the book was that it was very relatable in many ways. Let's face it, no matter how pretty or popular you are, you're always going to have that one person that tries to bring you down. The beauty of this book is that it shows what bullying can do to any kid big, small, popular, or hated, and that you are never alone in a fight you can't win by yourself. All in all, this book was definitely not my personal favorite, but I can see how it could be to other people. I recommend the book if you don’t mind finishing the book with many questions unanswered.

[Dorothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in 5th grade, before middle school. I was homeschooled so I never went to public middle school myself, but I never forgot the lessons I learned from this book. It's not a perfect book, and I don't necessarily agree with all of the characters' actions or their proposed solution in real life, but in the end they were moral, upstanding, and courageous. This is a book that will make you think about the bullying subject from many different angles and it's absolutely worth discussing, and using it as a jumping off point to consider other issues which don't get closely scrutinized by the book itself (LGBTQ, racism, school violence, etc.), which other reviewers have discussed in more detail. All in all, this book shifted my thinking and changed my attitude towards both bullies and victims going forward, and I will forever be grateful for that. I highly recommend it for young middle grade readers.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am in 7th grade, and I had to read it for school. I did not really enjoy the book because it is about 3 7th-graders getting bullied and then their journey to end bullying at their school. To me, it seemed like it was probably a little bit more geared toward smaller kids, based on the topic and the mood set by the author, but the language used in the text seemed like it would be a little bit difficult for young children to read. It was a little bit hard to read and overall just did not interest me much at all. If you are into reading about this sort of thing then give it a try I suppose, just be aware that it is a little bit weird and I personally believe the author ran out of ideas toward the end of the book, because he just kind of wrapped it up with a plot twist sort of thing and just decided that right as they were starting to make some headway in their goals, everything just fixes itself, like magic. Like I said, good book, just not terribly entertaining.

[Alex Templeton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not something I would have picked up necessarily on my own, but it was my students' summer read. Definitely a very interesting consideration of the whole victim/bystander/bully relationship, and the power bystanders and victims can have by speaking up. (In the book, three outcast kids use the school's internal intranet to expose bullying that everyone - including adults - are aware of but assume is just part of the way things are). A worthy read for that reason. I should say that at this point it is a bit dated, but then again, readers could just fill in today's social media for the featured tech.

[Amantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this along with my students in 7th grade, and it's a fine book. The class has been reading it very slowly (we started in August), so that may have impacted my rating in the end. The class is actually still reading, but I got impatient and finished it. I think this is a great book for middle schoolers to read.

[Joy Slykhuis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely outstanding! I agree with the blurb on the cover, "a must-read for middle (and high) schoolers." The same premise as a million other books... 3 kids who are bullied band together to outsmart the bullies. But so well done. These three kids are great, especially Russell, the story teller, who relates the great story of what happened in grade 7. I loved it!!

[Ailee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The revealers has sweet characters and is reminiscent of a disney channel original movie (in a good way). The way the three different kids reacted to their bullies was interesting and realistic and I think it was sweet to see them band together. I think it wasn’t quite interesting enough for a five star rating, but it was still very entertaining.

[Ryo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book helped me and taught me many life lessons because I haven't read these kind of book. So, this book is about three students that against bullies and they created the club of people who have getting criminal of bullies. As I said at the first, I haven't get bullies and I don't know how sad to get bullies.

[Emma Hawthorne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unrealistic and cheesy- the author clearly doesn't remember what being a middle schooler feels like. I know the book is old, but I sill should've been able to relate to at least some part of this book.

[Diana Eberhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Realistic and touching story about middle school bullying. As both a former student and a former teacher in MS, I can attest that the hurt caused by these situations is hurtful to the buries, the bullied, and caring adults who see and hear it.

[Kai HT · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just boring. I just want to go to bed. I wish the beginning was much better.

[Olivia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like it at all! Very boring and really not good! Don't wast your time!! worst book ever!

[Carson hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solid 2 1/2 stars.

[Arris (areesespieces) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bullies can ruin peoples lives, but what does it take to defy one? This story explains the story of multiple poeple being bullied... and fighting against it.

[Gaspar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book it is a sort of a action pack book but also sort of inspirational. Its a great book about these kids who get bullied and they start a write stories in the schools website.The people are cool but there is a girl who is sort of evil and there is a guy who is good and bad by bad I mean bully.There was also one that when they were bullying someone they injured him super bad.In the end it was awesome first they won the science project and they won everything it was so cool and inspirational.