A worthwhile resource for counselors, teachers, and others who work with children.
A collection of personal experiences with bullies sends a positive message to kids going through the same ordeal.
This anthology, compiled by Reading Harbor Publishing (Seeking Human Kindness, 2014), shares personal stories about bullying in the hope of making a difference. The contributors are writers, public speakers, educators, entrepreneurs, and therapists from all over the world, each dedicated to helping others overcome the harmful and lasting effects of bullying. Aimed primarily at children and teens, these short pieces are universally positive with similar hopeful messages—above all, that it does get better. The tone is not Pollyannaish, however. The authors are honest about how bullying hurt them, in many cases leading to self-harm, drug use, and suicidal thoughts. The book aims to provide practical strategies for overcoming bullying. The opening piece, “Preventing Peer Victimization,” offers down-to-earth advice, some of which may be difficult for bullied children to implement, such as getting fit and finding allies. A selection of inspirational quotes from celebrities follows, and the remaining pieces are all short, easy-to-read accounts of being bullied. The personal tone helps readers see themselves in the stories. The writers share how they got through these difficult periods in their lives by finding a passion or “something to hold on to when things are tough,” such as martial arts, reading, or riding horses. The clear message is that everyone finds a different path to recovery. The stories reassure victims of bullies that they are not alone; others know what they are going through and can help. They also tell tough truths, such as questioning the effectiveness of school anti-bullying programs. Many of the stories are heartbreaking and can make for tough reading. While the stories are primarily aimed at young people, who are most likely to be bullied, some contributors write about parental, spousal, and workplace abuse, which, while similar to bullying, would probably require different coping strategies. Overall, however, these encouraging stories will buoy confidence and self-esteem in bullied kids.
A worthwhile resource for counselors, teachers, and others who work with children.Pub Date: July 15, 2015
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Reading Harbor
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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