DEAR BULLY
70 Authors Tell Their Stories
Edited by Carrie Jones and Megan Kelley Hall
YA Anthology
Harper TeenYA Anthology
www.DearBully.com
5 Signed Copies will be given away on Friday, September 9, 2011!
About the Book:
You are not aloneDiscover how Lauren Kate transformed the feeling of that one mean girl getting under her skin into her first novel, how Lauren Oliver learned to celebrate ambiguity in her classmates and in herself, and how R.L. Stine turned being the “funny guy” into the best defense against the bullies in his class.
Today’s top authors for teens come together to share their stories about bullying—as silent observers on the sidelines of high school, as victims, and as perpetrators—in a collection at turns moving and self-effacing, but always deeply personal.
It also includes a contribution from FBF Founder Jessica Brody!
Megan Kelley Hall
Carrie Jones and I formed the group YAAAB (Young Adult Authors Against Bullying) in April 2010 when we both coincidentally blogged about the Phoebe Prince case on the same day. I reached out to Carrie expressing my frustration with this case and the fact that bullying that seemed to be growing at a ridiculously fast rate. We owed it to our readers to discourage bullying, and to make it “uncool.” We started by creating a Facebook page, and that was the day that we decided to use our platform as YA authors to facilitate change and to be a voice for those kids who cannot speak out or are too afraid to be heard.
As a Massachusetts resident, I was following Phoebe Prince “bullycide” very closely. I've been very involved in bullying (both my books feature the ultimate “mean girls” and I have spoken at schools about bully prevention). During the writing process, I had to dig deep to make “mean girls” as evil as I possibly could. And yet, when I heard the numerous bullying stories that were leading the headlines, I felt as if the bullies had jumped out of my book and into real life. I was also struck by the number of times I had done book signings where I would say to the teens and their mothers who attend my signings, “I hope you never meet girls as mean as the ones in this book.” The common response was “We already have.”
Right away, a large number of authors jumped on board of this cause, wanting to be involved in any way possible. Our Facebook group jumped from 5 to 1,500 members in one weekend! We are now closing in on nearly 5,000 members. Carrie and I were beyond thrilled when HarperTeen offered to collect all of our stories into an anthology. The thought of having seventy authors sharing their personal stories with their fans was something beyond what we had ever hoped for. It’s a book that I wish I had when I was a teenager.
The stories in Dear Bully come from all angles: from the point of view of the victim, the mother, the friend, the sibling, the classmate—even from the actual bully. Some of the stories are light-hearted, while others are raw and emotional. All of them drive home the point that bullying is something that almost everyone has experienced. And while that is a sad fact, we want to prove that it’s not a rite of passage—being bullied doesn't make you stronger, wiser, or better. But it is something that can be overcome, something that can be changed, something that is relatable, and something that one should never be ashamed of. Through our stories, we want to show that we understand what teens are going through today. We encourage bystanders to speak up and make bullying unacceptable. We want parents and adults to get involved. We strive to make bullying something that people no longer have to endure—at least, not by themselves.
We know it’s quite a lofty mission, but if we can help just one person get through a difficult time, then it will all be worthwhile.
Carrie Jones
So, my daughter Em and I are walking down Sand Beach. It’s her birthday. She’s seventeen, which is officially ridiculously old. We’ve just hiked a mountain and we have to cross the beach to get to the car. Tourists dot the beach. YMCA camp counselors try to corral kids into groups. There’s chaos and laughter and screams as the icy Atlantic Ocean crashes onto the Maine shore and toddlers’ feet.
There is a little girl flopped down on her belly, feet wiggling in the air. She’s facing her father, another sister nearby. Her dad’s got his knees to his chest so they have room. He’s facing the sea.
Em and I walk by just as the little girl speaks.
“I went into the water.”
His head tilts down. I can’t make out his eyes because of the sunglasses, but I assume he’s looking at her. “Yes, you did.”
“Are you proud of me, Daddy?”
“Always.” His mouth moves into a smile as he speaks.
Em and I both look at each other. She grabs my hand. We’ve both heard truth, a beautiful, amazing truth. And that truth is love.
“Tag,” Em says. Other people try to beat each other out spotting Volkswagen Bugs or WHATEVER. Em and I try to find acts of love. It’s schmarmy and goofy and we are not allowed to mention it to her friends, nor am I allowed to blog about it or post about it on Facebook or Google+, let alone tweet about it.
“Cue the violins,” I say because love moments are violin moments. They are gentle and magic. They are frequencies of emotion and sound that resonate. That makes love sound like a Hallmark card, but it’s not always that way. Sometimes love is subtle and you don’t recognize it right away.
Bullying can be like that too. It can be subtle and insidious or it can be bang-over-your-head. And we see it all over the beach. There are kids who aren’t allowed to play because they aren’t “cool” enough. There are kids being whispered about, kids being taunted.
In our bullying stories, details change. Names change. Reactions and actions can vary, but there is always a sameness to the stories. That’s what I learned from walking on the beach, and that’s what I’ve learned from reading the dozens of authors’ stories in DEAR BULLY.
1.Bullying hurts. Even if you are amazingly cool like Heather Brewer. It hurts. That is the same.
2.Bullying makes a mark on you. Even if you are amazingly talented and funny like Mo Willems, it makes a mark. That is the same.
3.Bullying sucks. Even if you are an amazingly popular writer of creepy stories like R. L. Stine, it makes a mark. That is the same.
When reading the contributors’ stories I was so sad for them, for the kids they were and sometimes the adults they are now. And I was so proud for how brave they were to share their stories. Why? They aren’t being paid. They shared because they want kids to know it happened to them too. They shared because they are brave and fierce and kind and survivors. They shared because they are cool enough to make their own love moments because sharing how you’ve hurt, or been hurt, or bullied or been a bully is an act of love.
So what else did I learn from the stories in this anthology?
I learned that people sometimes truly suck. And I also learned that people sometimes amaze—they go out of their way to do good sometimes. They go out of their way to make a difference.
That matters. It matters just as much as the badness matters.
With every story of hurt and survival that I read, I relearned that lesson over and over again: People can be good. Just by the act of sharing their story, they can be good.
About the Editors:
Megan Kelley Hall is the author of Sisters of Misery and The Lost Sister and has written for a variety of publications, including Elle, Glamour, Parenting, the Boston Globe, and the Boston Herald. She lives north of Boston.
Carrie Jones is the internationally and New York Times bestselling author of the Need series—which includes Need, Captivate, and Entice—as well as Girl, Hero; Love (and Other Uses for Duct Tape); and Tips on Having a Gay (Ex) Boyfriend. She is the coauthor, with Steven E. Wedel, of After Obsession. Carrie lives in Maine with a scrawny cat, an obese cat, two tremendously large white dogs, and occasional pixies.
Read more about the Book online at: www.DearBully.com
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2 comments:
this looks an amazing read!
I've been eager to read this one for a while now and being a NH native and former Bostonian, I followed the Phoebe Price case closely as well. It's incredibly disturbing the things that children and teens go through today. I've only been out of high school for 5 years, but I don't remember it being as bad then, as it seems now.
Thank you, Carrie and Megan, for sharing your stories and for bringing this collection to readers everywhere.
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