Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories

I never thought of myself as someone who was bullied when I was younger.

Sure, I suffered through clique-y middle school and junior-high school and high-school girls who traded friends the way the late 90s generation traded Pokemon cards. Sure, I spent some recesses feeling like a loner and a loser and after retaining zero female friendships after high-school, it took me almost seven years to relearn how to secure friendships with females again (and I am someone who cherishes my female friendships).

Sure, I had a boy call me "fat" in sixth-grade and was insecure about my weight for years as a result because it was the first time anyone had called attention to this "problem" that I never knew existed until that moment. I even had the opportunity to confront this boy while in college. For the record, he was absolutely apologetic and had no idea the upset this had caused me.

BUT I was not hit. I was not spit on. I was not taunted relentlessly. Heck, I wasn't even teased to my face (oh, no...it seems many young girls love to do this behind backs, don't they?). I was not afraid to ride the bus or walk home or go to school. I did not have it nearly as bad as some others did. To be SPIT on...I can't even fathom this level of degradation.

As a parent, there are two huge fears (among hundreds of other fears):
1. Your child being bullied.
2. Your child being a bully.
And there is the fear that you won't be able to prevent one of these from happening. This is what made this book absolutely terrifying.

This is the type of book that you have to give a good rating to because otherwise you will just be a complete a-hole. I'm hoping that the three stars I'm giving it will be enough to make me not an a-hole...especially since I just finished reading about a whole slew of them in this book. The lack of stars is because some of the stories were repetitive and some of them weren't very well written. The three stars are for the topic because it's such an important one.