Last week Publishers Weekly ran a terrific article on the importance of BOOKS for helping kids understand and survive bullying, and also sites that encourage them to intervene when they see bullying in their schools. The article features new sources and materials on bullying--including picture books, anthologies, websites--and recommends several new novels, including FOUR SECRETS, and includes a quote from me about my daughter's nightmarish experience with a group of stupid older boys--the seed of the novel and the source of its tone of urgency and sorrow.
Here is the quote:
"Similarly, author Margaret Willey recalled her daughter’s ordeal with bullying in high school to write Four Secrets (Carolrhoda Lab, Oct.), about friends who hatch a revenge plot against a bully that goes horribly wrong. “I still remember vividly the day she tearfully told me, ‘Something really bad is happening to me at school,’ Willey said via e-mail. “I knew that once she had recovered from the experience, I would write about that ‘something bad,’ and about her brave and loyal friends, who basically came to her rescue and who are still her friends today. I hope that my novel will be read as a tribute to the courage and stamina of bullied teens everywhere.”
The article is also available on the Be A Star Alliance website here, but the PW version includes lots of book covers and many helpful anti-bullying links (but you need to be a subscriber).
Here is the quote:
"Similarly, author Margaret Willey recalled her daughter’s ordeal with bullying in high school to write Four Secrets (Carolrhoda Lab, Oct.), about friends who hatch a revenge plot against a bully that goes horribly wrong. “I still remember vividly the day she tearfully told me, ‘Something really bad is happening to me at school,’ Willey said via e-mail. “I knew that once she had recovered from the experience, I would write about that ‘something bad,’ and about her brave and loyal friends, who basically came to her rescue and who are still her friends today. I hope that my novel will be read as a tribute to the courage and stamina of bullied teens everywhere.”
The article is also available on the Be A Star Alliance website here, but the PW version includes lots of book covers and many helpful anti-bullying links (but you need to be a subscriber).