Vicious: True Stories by Teens About Bullying

by Youth Communication, Hope Vanderberg (Editor)

Essays by teens address physical, verbal, relational, and cyber. These stories will appeal to readers because the cruelty and hurt are unmistakably real—and the reactions of the writers are sometimes cringe-worthy, often admirable, and always believable. 
Real Teen Voices Series
Teens open up to tell personal stories that tackle difficult, real-life issues. Direct, revealing, and often raw, these voices will ring true for any teen reader who has faced bullying, anger, or stress. Each piece has been selected and edited to appeal to reluctant and emerging readers as young as seventh grade. Readers will be inspired by the writers’ courage and strength in working hard to overcome problems both large and small.

Genres: Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come. 4 stars overall for a compilation of real teen stories that chronicle their experiences with bullying during high school. It was an enlightening read and definitely one I would recommend.

[Brooke Raleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very inspiring to read and to imagine the situations these children and teens have been through. This book explains the dangers and violence that pertains to online cyber-bullying, physical abuse, and emotional harassment. These brave, young authors tell us their stories and what they had to deal with personally whether it be in school or at home. This book also puts the reader in a position to make a difference and to help our community out when it comes to the vicious act of bullying.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great learning tool to teach about bullying and how it affects everyone and how you should treat people with respect.

They way the stories were edited though made me feel like I couldn't feel a lot of the emotion I wanted to feel. Not to say that the people who suffered didn't do a good job describing what they went through. I think it was just an editing issue. Most stories were too short.

[Lenny Husen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is 3 and a half stars, I am rounding up because:
1. These stories were written by teens, and it is meant for age 13 and up, so can't expect depth or level of writing to be other than what it is.
2. This is such an important subject. Bullying is close to my heart because I was bullied from ages 5 to 15 pretty much every year.
3. This is a great classroom book, to have on the shelf, and if I were a teacher I'd give Extra Credit to whichever kid read this and wrote a report, over crap like Twilight, for example.

Most of these kids are Group Home kids, and the solution to their problems of being the victim or perpetrator of violence, is pretty much get the Hell out of that school. Although there were a few stories where adults were extremely supportive and helped out, something that NEVER happened when I was a kid, if you were bullied or tormented it was your own fault for being different or dressing different, and teachers and principals did nothing and looked the other way.

I am delighted that adults are FINALLY starting to care, and it makes me like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga a lot more that they have spoken up against Bullying.

Question: Why should EVERYONE care about Bullying?
Answer: Because Bullying causes kids to kill themselves and kill others, that's why. Or FEEL like doing so.

Trust me. I know.

[Dale Safford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book did get me to think about my toddler granddaughter, and how I would not want her to suffer from being bullied, and also to develop her at a young age so that she will grow up being nice and considerate to others. I read this book because it was included on the 2015 United Methodist Women's Reading Program list in the Nurturing For Community-Youth category.

Very short stories are included here about bullying, both by some who do it and those who receive it. Bullies tend to feel more power by belittling others, and some mature and grow out of it after realizing how hurtful it is and losing friends. Teens who were bullied wrote about becoming loners and even turning away from their own family members. The concluding section, "How Adults Can Help," suggests to get help for the person who is bullying, teach the person who is bullying, and intervene. A lot of bullying occurs online, so (my conclusion) is to keep online time limited and get involved in active pasttimes.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would be a good classroom reading choice. As I read these teens' accounts of their experiences, some of them inevitably triggered memories of my own. I would never want to relive my teenage years; and the only thing I am thankful for is that Facebook and camera phones were far into the future. One aspect of these stories I was relived to find was that at least the bullied students had one or two good friends on whom to fall back on; I had years of having no friends at all.

[Bridgette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize it when I checked this book out that it was written primarily for a younger audience. It included several stories of kids being bullied. As a former victim of bullying it gave me perspective and I don't think it ever hurts for an adult to have a better understanding of bullying. It also described a few cyberbullying situations which I found enlightening because this was not going on yet when I was in school.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright--I think if you work with kids who have experienced bullying it's good to have real-life stories available for them to read--but I think there are probably better ones out there. Plus kids are bullied for such different reasons that I think they'd be more likely to identify with kids that went through the same *kinds* of bullying than stories that just have victimization in common.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished reading this to my 11 year old daughter. A lot of the scenarios aren't something she has had to deal with yet, but some she has. This book was a great way to get dialogue going about bullying and how to cope with it if it ever happens. It also shows why you shouldn't partake in bullying yourself.

[Jane Oldenburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stories from students who were bullied. Bullying, especially today with the easy availability of social media, is rampant. Why do these kids need to lash out and injure others? Many think it stems from the home-lives of these kids. We need to love our children and hold them tightly. They need us.

[NancyL Luckey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's terrible what young people are going through in bullying and being bullied. These young authors tell how they've survived both by realizing they must treat others as they want to be treated.

[Ariel Hernandez]

This book Vicious is about teens and there bullying life. In the book the types of bullying are Cyber bullying and regular bullying.