The Bailey Game

by Celia Rees

Alex Lewis is still haunted by the memory of the terrifying incident that took place two years ago, and by the fact that she too played the vicious game which led to it - the Bailey game. When a new girl arrives, Alex faces some difficult decisions.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, British Literature, Drama, School, Childrens, Contemporary

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Celia Rees (born 1949) is an English author of children's, YA and Adult fiction.

She was born in 1949 in Solihull, West Midlands but now lives in Leamington Spa with her husband. Rees attended University of Warwick and earned a degree in History of Politics. After university, she taught English in Coventry secondary schools for seventeen years, during which time she began to write.

Since then, she has written over twenty YA titles. Her books have been translated into 28 languages. She has been short listed for the Guardian, Whitbread (now Costa) and W.H. Smith Children’s Book Awards. She is a regular tutor for the Arvon Foundation. She has been Chair of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group and on the Society of Authors’ Management Committee.

Her first book for adults, Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook, was published by HarperCollins in July, 2020.

Reviews

[Ashton Jade Gibbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bailey Game – Celia Rees



The Bailey Game explores the terrifying effects of childhood bullying through the eyes of a child who witnesses it happen. We see the story unfold from Alex’s point of view. She’s seen the extremes bullying drove a previous school student, Michael Bailey, to, and when she watches a new girl Lauren experience the same nasty taunts, she decides to step in this time. She can’t deal with the guilt of what happened to Michael Bailey all over again...

“What was it about him that had made them hate him so much? Had he really been that different from other kids? It had seemed so then, he’d seemed like a freak, a monster. But thinking back, he seemed just – ordinary. He was a bit of a loner, but he hadn’t had much choice, it wasn’t clear that he was naturally like that. He wasn’t especially good at anything, but neither was he especially bad. Maybe it was his name, or his plumpish build, or his red hair and high forehead, or his clothes, or the way he wore his bag slung across his chest, maybe it was things as trivial as that. There was nothing you could point to in particular, but somehow all of them together had marked him out as the butt of all their jokes and what had started as mocking and ridicule had ended in vicious hatred.”

It was a short read and beautifully written. Celia Rees did a fantastic job of creating different realistic characters, and she succeeded in making me feel uncomfortable when reading the bullying scenes. There was nothing physical involved; it was all mental, which can cause much deeper wounds in the long run.

“What could hurt more than the sly digs and insults, left to fester like sores...”

From the start of this short story, the reader is kept in the dark about what exactly happened to Michael Bailey. I thought I had the right idea about it, but when it came to the telling scene... well wow. I had to put the book down, not because I wanted to, but because I could no longer read the words on the page due to the tears forming in my eyes. What an impact the reveal had on me. Four days later and it’s still on my mind. This really is a story this will stick with me for life. And I think the reason the impact was so great is because these things happen in our real life, and it’s horrifying.

“Condensation stopped him from seeing out. It dribbled and ran, dripping on the floor like a distillation of the hate forming around him.”

I was truly affected in mounds. I am lucky to have never been a victim of bullying, but the subject is something that makes me feel greatly uncomfortable and upset. Bullying is never okay. And it is okay to speak out, to anyone.



I almost gave this book a 4 star rating, and then I decided against it. Why shouldn’t a book that impacted me as much as this one did get a 5 star? It might not be a masterpiece, or may not creating an incredible world in your mind like novels do, but it sure does pull on your heartstrings and get a firm grip of your emotions.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely excellent book about bullying. Really goes into the reality of children's worlds, how bullying is not simply about one kid picking on another kid and all it needs is for the teacher to say it should stop for it to stop. It actually has the balls to look at bullying as part of the social structures and social hierarchies amongst children, how all within the peer group participate in, negotiate and are complicit with those structures and ideas, and how to judge who is culpable in such circumstances. It also goes into how these ideas from the children's world feed into, or are challenged by, ideas from the world of adults. Very good, without every pitching above the heads of its audience, or downplaying the seriousness of the topic.

[Shannon Bavister · Rating 2 out of 5]

My thoughts: Firstly I want to start with an acknowledgment to Celia Rees who highlights such a significant issue within her novel; bullying amongst adolescent peers - I feel that the importance of raising the devastating impact bullying can have is so important.

I think in some way, we have all experienced some level of bullying, if you haven’t you are very fortunate, but from a personal aspect I can say that it can have a detrimental effect to a persons wellbeing, self-image and mental health.

While for some, the intensity of bullying can have astronomical effects; and I commend Rees for shedding such an honest light on this fact. Social media in particular has such an impact and I fear this only worsens for younger generations - while the bullying in The Bailey Game happens primarily as “old-school” face to face bullying I also feel it imperative to highlight the importance of stopping online bullying and abuse and to become a more pleasant and kind society.

I have given this book 2 stars as a personal preference, the writing style wasn’t my favourite and I feel that the storyline was jolty rather than succinct and flowing as I would like. However I think the moral of this story is more important than sharing criticism, there is a deep and profound message which I feel beneficial for all teens to read and learn from.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Official rating would be 3.5 Stars.

When I started reading this book, I thought it would be just another book about bullying awareness. I didn't think that the bullying would be so much worse. It's like those bullies wanted Michael Bailey to actually commit suicide. They wanted to see how long Bailey would last. I actually believed that Bailey was a ghost and to tell you the truth, it scared the shit out of me. I'm glad that he isn't. I couldn't imagine the pain and how he had to suffer every day at school. At least, he started out fresh after the incident.

Lauren moved from Australia to England and she doesn't like it at all. She doesn't have any friends because everyone thinks that she's a freak. Alex also bullied her at first, but she had a feeling that this would turn out like last time with Bailey. She knew she had to stop it. So she became friends with Lauren. Their friendship was fragile but it grew stronger as Alex and Lauren stood up to the bullies.

For one, I don't get bullied. Everyone in my school are mostly good-natured people though you have to sometimes steer clear from some of them. And I do not take part in bullying because it's horrible! Why do you want to make someone suffer just because they're lame or doesn't have friends? That's just stupid!

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bailey Game is a very powerful read that explores the terrifying effects of childhood bulling through the eyes of a child who witnesses it happen. We see the story unfold through Alex Lewis 's eyes she's seen the extremes bulling drove a boy called Michael Bailey through two years ago and watches a new girl called Lauren Price experience the same thing. Alex decides to step in this time and her and Lauren become good friends. Celia Rees did an excellent job of creating different realistic characters and her book points out that sometimes even though bullies can be frightening bullies must be stood up to and even if someone is new and from a different town you should never judge a person before you get to know them. My favourite characters would have to be Alex Lewis, Lauren Price and Caroline Price.

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

26/09/09 - Childhood favourite, just read it again for the first time in over ten years. It didn't stand up quite as well as I remembered it and if I was rating it now I'd probably drop it down to three stars. But I was crazy about this when I was younger and read it SO MANY TIMES that I think my five should still hold. I'd still read it again though - so there's still something there.

[BookLover · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really made me think a lot about bullies.
It really gave you an insight about how far bullying can go and it makes you realise how important it is to tell people who are being bullied to tell someone.
I liked Lauren a lot and I really sympathised with her.
Overall, it was an amazing book.

[Annaleigh Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book when I was quite young, and I remember loving it. I've read it again, and of course, there are flaws, it's not perfectly written and it's not exactly how I remember it, but it's still a wonderful tale. All children should read this book.

[Aafia]

its about this boy who is always getting bullied,its kind a sad

[Muneera Cajee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book haunted me for a whole. I read it a long time ago but it still resonates in my mind.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a quick and enjoyable story which, as well as being entertaining, highlights the horrors of childhood bullying.

[Mary]

A teenage fiction page turner. Especially good on the characters of the two girls.

[Elina Bergqvist · Rating 1 out of 5]

Har läst bättre böcker än denna. Den var tråkig, hade dålig handling och kunde ha varit mer spännande. Denna rekommenderar jag inte.

[Lisa Fransson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up The Bailey Game, because I'd read "Witch Child" by Celia Rees and really liked it. The Bailey Game is entirely different. It's a book about bullying and I think a very useful one at that. But it's not really of any literary interest. I passed it on to my daughter who's in year 7 to read.

[Jeyasakthi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Passed it to my 11 year old to read. The book is about bullying in schools and has a good message for kids on how to deal with this.

[Sami]

Finde Struktur des Buches gut. Inhalt ist nicht ganz realistisch aber haut hin. Das Ende war toll

[Maia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eine gute SCHULLEKTÜRE

[YellowBlackKing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich hatte mir etwas mehr von „Klassenspiel“ erwartet, vielleicht bin ich aber auch einfach zu alt dafür. Weil aus dem Klappentext herausging, dass es bei dem Buch nicht nur um Mobbing, sondern auch Suizid gehen würde, dachte ich, es richte sich eher an ältere Jugendliche, die Charaktere wirkten aber alle noch ziemlich kindlich und naiv, sodass ich es eher als Kinderbuch verordnen würde. Abgesehen davon hätte ich mir gewünscht, dass „Klassenspiel“ etwas länger gewesen wäre, da die Geschichte auf den knapp zweihundert Seiten recht oberflächlich erzählt wurde. Leider wurde alles ziemlich schnell abgehandelt, ohne besonders in die Tiefe zu gehen, wodurch es auch so wirkte, als hätten sich Alex und Lauren bereits nach wenigen Tagen wieder aus ihrer misslichen Lage bereit. Außerdem hätte es mir noch gefallen, mehr über Michael Bailey zu erfahren. Dennoch ist „Klassenspiel“ ein Buch über ein wichtiges Thema und besonders die letzten Sätze fand ich sehr schön.