Blubber by Judy Blume
I was picked on at different times and in different grades pretty much off and on through out my entire school career. Thankfully, I could lose myself in books. They saved me more than once. This book, Blubber, I read over and over. The story in Blubber was so real, and so like events in my life, it was a comfort to me. I was happy to find out that teachers still use it today, even though it was written in 1974, it still resonates with kids. Of course they have redone the cover several times to make it appealing to the kids. The cover pictured here is the book I owned and read until the covers literally fell off. I took this out of the library last week to reread it. I have not read this is a very long time. I plan to start it tomorrow and revisit and old friend, a book that was my sanity for a while during my childhood.
There are a couple of books that are out recently that are good tools in getting dialog started about bullying situations in classrooms that may or may not be happening directly to a child you love.
Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy
This is a cute little story for ages pre-K to 3rd grade. It does a great job of telling kids to be themselves and opens up discussion about being teased for who you are.
Extraordinary Jane by Hannah E Harrison
A beautiful picture book of a little dog trying to be something, when she really just needs to be herself. Very simple story. I have read this to classrooms and they love it and respond as you are reading the story, and talk afterwards about the storyline. More of a tool for discussion than I ever imagined it to be. This also Pre-K to 3 rd grade.
STAND UP by David Stefanich
This is a tale of bullying that has no ending, really, the children or child reading the book makes the ending up. This is an extremely interesting read to do with kids. I have seen it and read it and discussed it with K-12 kids. Kindergarten and first graders seem to like it and are really positive. Second to Fifth graders either really like it, or really don’t. On the whole sixth through eighth graders did not like it at all, more because they wanted a happy ending and thought it gave no hope. The high school kids just thought it was dumb and that it’s pretty much true no one will do a thing. When asked if they would report being picked on, most would not tell their parents, if they did it would be mom. But more than likely they would tell a friend, but on the whole they would tell no one. This fact made me very sad. I did find however that in reading all these stories with kids the lines of communication do open, and you can get glimpses of things really going on and clues as to how to help.
Read with a child. It will create more than you’d ever imagine.
Book on.
Peace.
