Cornered: 14 Stories of Bullying and Defiance

by Rhoda Belleza (Editor), Kirsten Miller, Mayra Lazara Dole

It does not necessarily take a fist to create a punch in the gut. This fourteen-story YA fiction anthology delves into the experience of being bullied—socially, emotionally, physically, psychologically, and sexually. The school hallways, walks home, and house walls are no longer the boundaries for intimidation and harassment. With the rapid-fire response time of social media and smartphones, bullying has lost all limits, and the lines among truth, lies, and real accountability have become blurred. Featuring some of the hottest voices in YA literature, both bestselling and on the rise, Cornered includes works from Kirsten Miller (New York Times bestseller The Eternal Ones), Jennifer Brown (Hate List), Elizabeth Miles (Fury), Jaime Adoff (The Death of Jayson Porter), Lish McBride (Morris Award finalist Hold Me Closer, Necromancer), Matthue Roth (Losers), Sheba Karim (Skunk Girl), Kate Ellison (Butterfly Clues), Zeta Elliot (A Wish After Midnight), Josh Berk (The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin), and James Lecesne (Absolute Brightness and founder of the Trevor Project).

Contents:
Nemesis by Kirsten Miller
On Your Own Level by Sheba Karim
The Shift Sticks by Josh Berk
Everyone's Nice by David Yoo
Defense Mechanisms by Elizabeth Miles
Sweet Sixteen by Zetta Elliot
Like Kicking a Fence by Kate Ellison
How Auto-tune Saved My Life by Brendan Halpin
The Ambush by Matthue Roth
Inside the Inside by Mayra Lazara Dole
But Not Forgotten by Jennifer Brown
The Truest Story There Is by Jaime Adoff
Still Not Dead by James Lecesne
We Should Get Jerseys 'Cause We Make a Good Team by Lish McBride

Genres: Short Stories, Young Adult, Anthologies, Contemporary, High School, Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published July 3, 2012

About the author

Rhoda Belleza was raised in Los Angeles, where she grew up writing XFiles fanfiction and stuffing her face with avocados. When she's not writing, Rhoda obsesses over nail art tutorials, watches kung fu movies, and sews together crooked things that pass for clothes. She's a children's editor at a publishing house and writes from a sunny Brooklyn apartment stuffed far too many bikes and far too many shoes. Empress of a Thousand Skies is her debut novel.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initial reaction: Compared to other story compilations on bullying that I've read, this really paled in comparison. I did not like the fact that some of the stories lacked resolution or were truncated on awkward notes in that it seemed to go against the very message it was trying to put across. However, there are some good stories in this collection that I enjoyed, and I'll expound upon those when I post my full review.

Full review:

It's been almost a full year since I've returned to review this particular compilation of stories, but I remember it well enough to say that I was quite overwhelmed by the collection as a whole, offered by Rhoda Belleza.

Quite many of you know how I feel about bullying and I've read quite a few compilations of strong narratives offered on the topic. What bothered me about this was the fact that many of the narratives came across as incomplete or with a lack of direction/distinction.

Chris Clutcher wrote an interesting preface on the collection in terms of highlighting the fact that bullies themselves can be those that are "among the bullied", and tells the story of a kid named Kevin who picked on the weakest girl in the class because he couldn't stand the sight of weakness. Rhoda Belleza also introduced the collection, with thoughtful reflections on her experiences with bullying and what inspired the respective collection - a measure to connect.

I'm going through this collection story by story just so that you guys can have an idea of what I thought were pros and cons of each story, and that you can have a gauge for what stories may work/not work for you.

1. Nemesis by Kirsten Miller This story all too reminded me of what happens when people try to combat bullying by "bullying the bullies." It never goes well and stereotyping by affixing a label to what the "bully" encompasses is destructive to seeing it as a problem and the measures of addressing solutions for stopping it. I don't know what the point of it was - the sense of vengeance and helplessness a person feels when they're bullied? To illustrate that no one deserves to fight alone. That may be true, and I could see that the motivation behind the character's actions was because her former best friend bullied her, but it kind of leaves the idea hanging.

The story tells of a young woman who fronts a secret group called "NEMESIS" - videotaping incidents of bullying and blackmailing the "bullies" as it were - sending links and the footage of recorded incidents to the bullies, their parents, and authorities like the schools. But then she also doxxes the identity of the bullies on her website if the incidents escalate. She operates under an anonymous handle, and makes statements like this in her mantra:

"We’ll ruin their careers, friendships, and love lives. We’ll have our revenge. And we’ll teach them all that payback is hell."

It lends on to the measure that the young woman gets a plea from Olivia, her former bully. She decides to go watch to delight in the fact that Olivia's getting her just deserts, but ends up feeling stricken upon seeing the bullies torment Olvia so she decides to help her "fight." But I still feel like nothing in this story was ever "resolved." It just ended abruptly. I didn't like the story personally because it hits too close to home in a wrong way.

Score: 1.5/5 stars

2. On Your Own Level by Sheba Karim

*still writing, long review*

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of these stories were touching.

But some were vulgar. Disgusting. I failed to understand how anything small as intimidation could turn into a bullying story, and give reason for the protagonist to turn into a monster.

The small amount of backstory in some of the stories made them into less of a story and more of a jumble of words that left me confused.

Others were poignant stories that entertained me greatly.

I guess that's a bit of a mixed review, but it's honestly how I felt.

[Read for your future! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read our review here:
http://readforyourfuture.blogspot.com...

[✿Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were 4 stars, but on average, I would give them 3 stars. There were only a couple that I didn't really care for.

[Gabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like any other collection of short stories, some were excellent and stood out while others either missed their mark and/or compelled me to skip them entirely.

Personal favorites:
- "The Shift Sticks": The bullied confronts her bully through her music years later after both have grown. Honestly? This is confrontation done right. The bully gets his just desserts and a humanizing heart-to-heart with his former victim afterward.
- "How Auto-Tune Saved My Life": Ahh, this time the bully's the teacher, something I have some experience with, albeit certainly not to this sadistic level! The protagonist's method of retribution is also quite satisfying, even if the fallout wasn't.

Mixed emotions:
- "Sweet Sixteen": This one had an interesting premise following a conversation between two 16 year-olds in CPS custody, one a prostitute and the other a young mother married to a polygamous cultist. It's probably the least traditional type of bullying-related story; instead, the characters were coerced into their ways of life. However, the ending left things unsettled.
- "Defense Mechanisms": Cool idea involving bullied women acquiring superpowers to help them cope, but massively underdeveloped as a story and ultimately a let-down.

DNF:
- "Like Kicking a Fence": needlessly heart-rending, this one made me ill and forced me to stop. What I did read described the merciless beating of a young teenaged boy with braces by a self-professed bully who relishes every second of it. Seriously sickening, and I read dark material daily! Maybe it's redeemed later, but I wasn't going to stick around and find out.
- "We Should Get Jerseys": another reviewer said this story is spoilerish as it takes place between two larger well-known stories by the author. I wasn't looking for anything but standalones in this anthology and thus skipped it.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really interested in reading something about bullying but I'm a little disappointed. The stories, with some exceptions, are just for entertainment. I expected them to go deeper, to make the reader more aware of the situation. But some of them are just so unreal that it was a little annoying. Anyway, it was worth reading this book because of the three or four stories that do achieve the goal: they show the suffering of both the bully (bulllies) and person who is being bullied, the awful situation and the consequences. Bullying most of the time is a matter of life and death, a hard struggle for survival.
More awareness needs to be raised regarding this subject.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these were really good and some were just okay. Worth reading.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very American anthology. Only a few short stories I really enjoyed.

[Marvelous · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great. I read all of the stories in about four hours and the reading went fast. All of the stories handled bullying sensitively and deftly. There were a few common themes like suicidal feelings and people being taunted with the words "fag" and "lesbo" but it never got repetitive. Lots of diversity in this book, in writing style, in characterization, in sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, plot as well as if the story was about the bully or the bullied.

Some stories really stood out. My favorite was The Truest Story There Is by Jaime Adoff. Utterly haunting, hopeless but still full of heart. I loved the voice of the story and the impossible life found in the most unlikely of places. I wish there was a whole book about those characters. Also, I wish there was a novel based on The Ambush by Matthue Roth. Like Adoff's story, it features a character who is sort of forced into a bleak situation and I need to know more. But I find the whole thing about Russian immigrants really interesting and I wanted to read more of their voices and their story. Another story called On Your Own Level by Sheba Karim also stood out to me because it featured a timely issue of growing up seen as being part of that "terrorist" other in America and also because that plot was juxtaposed by the very teenage problem of liking a boy you can't have.

Inside the Inside by Mayra Lazara Dole was a really weird story, very surreal... literally. But I enjoyed it. Most of the other stories stayed pretty contemporary. Like Kicking a Fence by Kate Ellison was quietly powerful. There was such violence in that story, more than any other, but at the same time a strong tug of compassion for the bullies who had been bullied before. Everyone's Nice by David Yoo used the second person which was oddly surreal but I could still feel the frustrations of the character coming to a head right before the sad ending. Sweet Sixteen by Zetta Elliot had a great way of showing two parallels lives that don't look at all similar on first look.

The only clunker in the anthology for me was We Should Get Jerseys 'Cause We Make a Good Team by Lish McBride. I just didn't really get it. There was a ghost & stuff happened and I felt like I was dropped into some world that I should already know, like it was a spin-off of some other book. So I didn't really get it. But that was the only one. The rest I really enjoyed.

I find most YA Short Story anthologies to be surprising robust, entertaining and full of great writing. Check this book out today!

[Shadow Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

It does not necessarily take a fist to create a punch in the gut.
"This fourteen-story YA fiction anthology delves into the experience of being bullied—socially, emotionally, physically, psychologically, and sexually."

I originally had this shelved as 'ya-general', but I had to add it to 'ya-horror' as well. Cornered: 14 Stories of Bullying and Defiance is pretty far out of my genre comfort zone, but it horrified me on a different level.

I've read a lot of (IMHO) outstanding fictional books about bullying - (just to name a few...)
THE 8th by Matt Shaw, JEREMY by Matt Hickman, MY BEAUTIFUL SUICIDE by Atty Eve, and most recently Rage by Kimberly A. Bettes. I think Cornered: 14 Stories of Bullying and Defiance hurt a little deeper because the stories lacked the gratifyingly bloody revenge from the victim(s).

* Click here to view full post. (http://wp.me/p37DRX-1vh)

** I have the outline prepared, so BOLO for the full review & author info.

*** I came across an article I posted in 2013 when I searched on BBB for keyword word ‘bully’, and I wanted to share it again now. It's linked from the same post, so please check it out if you have the time.

[Cindy Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

the eyes of the bully, from those who are being bullied, and from others who stand on the side and feel powerless to stop what’s happening. Edited by Rhoda Belleza, the stories are written by both acclaimed and emerging young adult authors. None of them flinch from the hard truths in the stories they have written.

This honesty makes it hard for readers to look away as they read stories about teens who are beaten up by their tormentors or taunted and emotionally abused in front of classmates and in cyberspace. While it’s easy to picture boys as being bullies, girls are often bullies as well. And their victims? They are often the kids who don’t fit into the norm in some way. They are gay or lesbian or accused of being so even if they aren’t. They often are physically small and have no one to confide in about the abuse. Their home lives may be in turmoil. They hope to fly under the radar long enough to make it out of high school and escape their bullies forever.

In recent times there has been much said about bullying, how to raise awareness of it and how to stop it. While programs aimed at reducing it are undoubtedly doing some good, there is little chance that bullying will be eradicated. Books such as Cornered are important because they bring issues about bullying into the forefront. It looks at the humanity of those who are victims, and, as hard as it may be to believe there is humanity in those who victimize, it looks at that as well.

Some of the stories are difficult to get through. Others have more of a lighthearted feel where victims triumph. All of them will take your breath away. I recommend Cornered for mother-daughter book clubs and any reader aged 14 and up.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Kbryna · Rating 5 out of 5]

a nice set of short stories around a similar theme; none ever fell into cliches or moralizing. Very much a 21st century collection; internet and media play a huge part in a lot of these stories. Of particular note; Lish McBride's "We should get jerseys, cause we make a good team," which is a follow-on story featuring characters from the wonderful Hold me Closer, necromancer (it's narrated by Frank); Kirsten Miller's "Nemesis," which includes a fantastic premise, well handled by Miller; "On your own level," be Sheba Karim, which handles religious/ethnic/international difference in some really interesting ways; and Brendan Halpin's "How auto-tune saved my life," a fantastic story of the struggle between a student and his teacher (the bully).

I'm a bit sad but not at all surprised at how many of these stories feature homophobia as an aspect of the bullying and social isolation - sad because the "she's a lezzie" and "f*&8*t" are awfully familiar from my own childhood as taunts against the least-liked, or the mildly different. Perhaps these stories are recycling their author's recollections from their childhoods, when saying "ew, are you a lesbo?" led to almost-instant exile from the social herd; I hope, at least in some places, this isn't true anymore.

most, if not all, of these stories avoid being preachy or teachy, and they remind us that bullying looks like an awful lot of different things, and has an awful lot of unpleasant consequences for everyone.

[Aelvana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I got this book solely for the Lish McBride story at the end, and didn't read any of the rest of them. Reading about particularly cruel bullies does bad things to my blood pressure.

We Should Get Jerseys 'Cause We Make a Good Team - This is Frank's story, set between Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, and Necromancing the Stone. So it's a bit spoilerish for those who may not have read HMC,N yet, but not too badly. Brooke and Frank go out to get Ramon a welcome-home present and Frank gets an unwelcome visitor from his past, a bully he once suffered under in high school. It's also the story of how Frank met Brooke, Sam, and Ramon, and why he started working with them at Plumpy's.

I like how much depth this gives to Frank, who is an interesting side character but mostly a side character in both of the novels. Frank was always oppressed, easily pressured, and a people pleaser. But over the course of this story (and continued in Necromancing the Stone) he grows more confident, more sure of his own capabilities. (And in the novels, Sam, at least, finds him indispensable, though it's not clear if Frank himself realizes that.) And it's fun to see how the friends Frank accidentally met one day have been so instrumental in helping him stand on his own two feet. Recommended.

See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....

[Stina Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review here: http://zodiacbookreviews.blogspot.com...

Bullying has been a HUGE topic the past few years, and no matter how we try to stop it, bullying seems to worsen as time goes by. There always seems to be someone who thinks they are better than someone else, and that they can do whatever they want to those they view beneath them. Though it's near impossible to rid ourselves of bullying forever, and though it may be difficult, there is the hope that those who are being victimized will find the strength to overcome and rise above their bullies.

Cornered: 14 Stories of Bullying and Defiance shows us both sides: the bully and the bullied. We see how some have found strength from being bullied and try to help others in the same position. We see how nationality, sexuality, religion, social standing and other factors can determine which side of the spectrum you're on. Some get stronger, some just can't take anymore, and some become the bully after being bullied themselves. The stories in this anthology are as enlightening as they are disturbing. I definitely think this is a collection of stories every young adult should read.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This and other reviews can be found on my blog @ http://bookaholicfaggots.blogspot.com

I think this is the first time I've ever read an anthologies for fun. (Not including English textbooks) I must say, it's not that bad. Anthologies are basically a series of short stories in one book. For example, the English textbooks for elementary and middle school.

One positive thing about anthologies is that you won't get hanged up before you go to sleep. You won't get any cliffhangers and they would entertain you. You can simply read one short story at a time and ya know, it's real easy to finish the book too.

Since this book has a lot of different characters, authors (as you can see) and plots, I'll tell you what the whole book is about. You can already tell from the title, but I"ll go deeper. ;)

Cornered is a series of short stories that tells about bullying someone, being bullied, and how the main characters change because of being bullied by or bullying at. Cornered teaches us about how bullying would effect people and let us see how much different kind of bullying there are out there.

Either way, I can't say this was the best book I've ever read, but it really isn't that bad either.

[Stacy Chrzastowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grade Level/Interest Level: 6th-8th grade
Reading Level: 7th-9th grade
Main Characters: Several
POV: Several
Setting: N/A

Cornered: 14 Stories of Bullying and Defiance is about several young adults experiencing bullying or bullying others. The book goes into great detail with each account telling about their unique experience. I absolutely love this book I could not put it down. I stayed up all night reading it. The book was so well written that I literally felt what the authors were saying. I have never personally been bullied on an extreme level but it is one of the scariest and worst things that can happen to students in the classroom. Other students are not aware of how detrimental bullying can be for another student. I think this book would be very effective in the middle school grades. It is relatable and really makes you feel empathy for the author. I would use this book in literacy and as a SEL lesson. I would also use this book to have students write about a time they felt bullied; this may help students get out feelings that they didn’t want to face.

[Savannah (Books With Bite) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of stories. Stories that are raw, dealing with bullying every, single day. And stories where people have had enough and are finally standing up for themselves.

Let me begin by saying that I had a love/hate thing with this book. One minutes I'd be angry or sad due to an bullying story and when I got in to the defiance story I was all like," HELL YEAH!" LOL! This is a great book filled with awesome stories to give you that emotional roller coaster. Even though the stories were short, you were able to get each character, watch them stand up and face their bully and of course others, taking it every day.

My fave defiance story is Nemsis which is the first story and well its about defiance. I really love the chance at getting revenge for bullying.

If you want stories that really make you see things differently, check this book out. It awesome and powerful. Each story different from the next, you are never left bored. Cornered is a great anthology that gets down to the heart of the matter.

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up as an ARC, as something to consider for the 8th grade summer reading We Want Something About Bullying requirement.

No.

I'm not saying it was bad--like any anthology, it had its ups and downs. Some stories are fantasy-based, others are realistic--and props for the realistic ones actually addressing teens considering suicide, and I think that's where my sticking point is--I respect the choice but it's not something I'm going to hand to an 8th-grader when they'll be reading without much guidance. (I say this because this year's rising 8th graders are last year's rising seventh graders, who took the wildly wrong message from James Preller's amazingly realistic Bystander.)

An additional purchase at best, in part because not many teens read anthologies anyway (which is a shame). (but not a shame when it comes to this one.)

[N]

*Nemesis - What a way to start... strong story

On Your Own Level - sad

The Shift Sticks - interesting "confrontation"

Everyone's Nice - kind of dragged on, something with the voice/ tense also was off putting

Defense Mechanisms - fantasy, felt a little underdeveloped

*Sweet Sixteen - interesting character juxtaposition

Like Kicking a Fence - graphic / gory - almost too hard to read

How Auto-Tune Save my Life - akin to David Petrakis in Speak

The Ambush - eeh

Inside the Inside - I don't know how to describe this story. It's disturbing and thought-provoking. A little gruesome but not as gory feeling as the other ss.
LGBT, play, painting, Fantasy

(after this story I need a break... will finish reading after ALA)

But Not Forgotten -

The Truest Story There Is -

Still Not Dead -

We Should Get Jerseys 'Cause We Make a Good Team -

[Chloe Schlachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cornered was a story about young adults and their stories about them being bullied or even being the bully.
One of my favorite stories was about a girl named, Cera Asher. She was bullied after she broke up with the hottest guy in school because he tried to make her do things she didn't want to do. She takes a self defence class and realises that everyone in the class has speical powers. She dosen't freak out because she is told that she also has speical powers bucause she could see the ad for the class, and only people who are speical can see it. She soon finds that she has wings and flies into the sky.
Overall I thought this book was a little depressing and it brought my sprit down when I read it, nut thats what bullying is. I loved how the stories were somewhat happy in the end, I thought the characters deserved a happy ending for all that they went through.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology that actually delves into the topic of bullying and defiance, and does it with contemporary fiction and the occasional urban fantasy stories. The stories all ranged from different views of the bullying. It details the bullied to the one that becomes the bully. Whether they are child, teenager, or adult, anyone can be either. In a way I can relate to some of the stories (middle school and high school can especially be Hell). Feeling inadequate because of others' opinions or brutality, a person either has to grow a thick skin (or wings) or become a bloody mouse among cats. But in a way it's amazing to me to see all the different ways these characters try and overcome these cruel situations.

[Angela Usas · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many different ways in which kids are bullied, but during and after each story, I found myself thinking that the most important thing to teach my children is to always be nice to everyone. "You never have a reason not to be nice." That's one of my dad's famous lines and it's so true. I also thought about George Saunders' commencement speech because his message is "be kinder" NOW instead of wishing you had been kinder to peers when you were younger.
Bullying is learned from families and we must work together to support the kids who are taught that bullying is okay. The bullies are hurting too. But no one deserves to be treated the way some of the kids in this book were. It was heartbreaking.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cornered is a harrowing book of bullying and empowerment. The 14 characters in this book all want different things depending on their story: To stop being bullied, to bully, to stop bullying, to get the better of their bully, to wish they had stopped someone being bullied, or to help people being bullied. Read their different journeys and you will finish the stories, but the stories will stay with you. Can the bullies stop their horrid behaviour? Do they even want to? Can the bullied rise above and move on? Can the ones who stood by and let it happen forgive themselves?

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like any anthology, this book had its ups and downs. The stories that were fantasy based seemed lacking in background information, while the more realistic stories became a bit repetitive. However, this book does address some important issues, such as teen suicide, and for the most part, the stories were well-written.

[Marta Medina · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are two exceptionally well-written stories worth reading and they are by Kirsten Miller and Mayra Lazara Dole (in order of excellence). If you know any LGBTQ youths being bullied, or teachers, youth group coordinators and anyone who loves short stories, hand them this powerful anthology filled with diversity (the most I've ever read in one sitting) where some victims fight back.

[Carmie Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books like these..with several stories in them! I love the diverse writing styles. I think this book is good for EVERYONE! there's at least one story everyone will like. and it's a very serious topic to talk about. I may have skipped 2 or 3 of the stories because they didn't catch interest but overall it was a great book!

[Angélique (Angel) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 Stars. As far as short story collections go, this one was neither especially spectacular nor especially awful. I appreciated the diversity of the stories in terms of characters, approach to bullying, and examples of bullying shown; however, I struggled to get deeply emotionally invested in the stories and to fall into the overall tone of the collection.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of these short stories about bullying are very well-done. Some move into weirdness, and the content is definitely YA "sophisticated." I did like that that subject of bullying was approached in a more nuanced way, and it's common in the collection for the bullied to also be a bully to someone else.

[Sarah Hollis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. The stories have been written so well that they evoke lots of emotion. Each story made me feel something, whether it be sadness or anger. Of course, being that there were 14 different stories the book could be slightly confusing, and some of the stories were better than others.

[Rachee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read an ARC of Cornered in one afternoon. The stories were varied and very interesting although after a while they all seemed a bit repetitive. Most stories were not overtly pushy or preachy and there were no easy solutions. Recommended for high school students.