Best, Cari.  Shrinking Violet. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.

Shrinking Violet  by Cari Best
It shows how someone very shy and sometimes wants to just disappear gets over their fears. The main character is Violet. Violet always gets bullied around by Irwin who is always insulted her. One day Violet helped him out, to find out what happened read this book. I think that this is a very interesting book. It shows how someone very shy and sometimes wants to just disappear gets over their fears. The main character is Violet. Violet always gets bullied around by Irwin who is always insulted her. One day Violet helped him out.  Whimsical illustrations done by Giselle Potter.

 
Couric, Katie. The Brand New Kid. New York: Scholastic, 2001.
The Brand New Kid  by Katie Couric
Lazlo S. Gasky is new at Brookhaven School.  All of his classmates are bullying him around.  He feels very left out. One day Ellie saw his mom crying and decided to befriend Lazlo only to find that he is a really great guy!
 

Henkes, Kevin. Chrysanthemum. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1991.
Chrysanthemum  by Kevin Henkes
Chrysanthemum loved her name dearly until she started school and some girls made fun of it.  Then they met their music teacher who they all adored and found out she was also named after a flower.  >From then on all of the girls wanted to be called flower names and be Chrysanthemum's friend.

Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester This is about a little boy rat, who could not say his R’s correctly.  Everyone in school made fun of him.  Then a new girl came to town and tormented everyone in Rodney’s class.  Until one day that Rodney outsmarted the bully and Rodney became the hero.
 
 

 Lovell, Patty.  Stand Tall Molly Lou Mellon. New York: G.P. Putnam Sons, 2001.
 Stand Tall Molly Lou Mellon by Patty Lovell
This is about a little girl named Molly Lou Mellon.  She is very little, only about the height of your knee!  A mean little boy in her new town who happened to be much larger than her made fun of Molly Lou to no end.  Finally she got the courage to stand up to him with the help of her, also very tiny, grandmother.  Teaching Ideas for Stand Tall Molly Lou Mellon

Morimoto, Junko.  The Two Bullies.  New York: Crown Publisher, 1999.
The Two Bullies  by Junko Morimoto
This is from an original Japanese folktale by Isao Morimoto. In this silly story of two giants, Ni-ou leaves Japan to challenge Dokkoi, a strong man in China. But each--inadvertently scared off by his opponent--returns home with new respect for the other. "And since that day, when people in China lift up something heavy, they say, 'Ni-ou!' And people in Japan say, 'Dokkoi-sho!'" In the striking illustrations, calligraphic-type strokes depict the giants as overgrown sumo wrestlers.
 

O'Neill, Alexis. The Recess Queen. New York: Scholastic, 2002.
The Recess Queen  by Alexis O'Neill
Mean Jean is the recess queen. No one dares touch a ball, swing a bat, or slip down the slide until she says so. Until, that is, the day that Katie Sue shows up at school. Told in a rollicking rhyme, the story offers a lighthearted look at a serious topic in schools and on playgrounds everywhere-the bully. Katie Sue puts Mean Jean in her place in a surprisingly easy way-simply by being too new to know any better. In a nice twist, when confronted by Mean Jean, instead of backing away, the newcomer invites her to play. Thus she is transformed into a likable character at the end of the story, now surrounded by friends on the blacktop rather than foes.
 

Easy Chapter Books

Berenstain, Jan and Stan. The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Teasing . New York: Random House Incorporated, 1995.
The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Teasing  by Jan and Stan Berenstain
Brother Bear is a master at teasing—until the tables are turned and he's the one being heckled for being the principal's pet. And when Brother finally understands that teasing isn't just mean, it's also dangerous, he actually decides to stick up for the new kid at school.

Howe, James. Pinky and Rex and the Bully. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's, 1996.
Pinky and Rex and the Bully by James Howe
Pinky is confused. He does like the color pink and his best friend is a girl. Does this make him a sissy? After repeated taunts by Kevin, the bully, Pinky decides that maybe he shouldn't like pink and maybe he should start going by the name Billy. With the help of his neighbor, Mrs. Morgan, he realizes it is difficult to be different. In the end he stands up to a bully and is true to himself.

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Novels

Blume, Judy. Blubber. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, 1976.

Blubber by Judy Blume
This was a wonderful story which shows the inner workings of what goes on with children when the adults aren't around. This is a tale which shows cruelty, but then how cruelty can be turned around and eventually used in a positive way. A great story which is a must read for all ages.
 
 

McNamee, Graham. Nothing Wrong with a Three-Legged Dog . New York: Random House, 2001.
Nothing Wrong with a Three-Legged Dog by Graham McNamee
Keath and his best friend Lynda are in the fourth grade. Some kids call Lynda "Zebra," because her mother's black and her father's white. And Keath is Whitey. He's vanilla in a chocolate school where Toothpick, a bully, has it in for him. Lynda and Keath both love dogs. When Keath grows up, he wants to be a golden retriever. Dogs don't care about what color is the right one. Dogs don't hate anybody. Their favorite dog is Leftovers, Lynda's three-legged beagle. When he got hurt, his first owners gave up on him, but Lynda and Keath turn him into a winner, a pooch that shows Keath that sometimes it's good to stand out, to be special, and that even when you look different, there are ways to fit in.
 

Spinelli, Jerry. Crash. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
Crash by Jerry Spinnelli
This is about a boy nicknamed Crash because of when he was four he tackled his girl cousin into the snow.  He is the typical “jock.”  When he is seven, a boy named Penn moves in a couple doors down.  Penn is different than Crash in that Penn is a Quaker.  Penn is very genuine and good-hearted and Crash does not understand him.  Years later in middle school Crash meets a boy that is just like him.  They constantly play jokes on Penn and they get increasingly mean.  Then with one prank, Crash’s friend goes too far and Crash changes.  In the end Crash and Penn are good friends.

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Biography

Fritz, Jean . Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt! New York: Putnam Group, 1997.
Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt! by Jean Fritz
Today's preeminent biographer for young people brings to life our colorful 26th president. Conservationist, hunter, family man, and politician, Teddy Roosevelt commanded the respect and admiration of many who marveled at his energy, drive and achievements may have been seen as a bully sometimes.

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Informational Books

Cohen-Posey, Kate. How to Handle Bullies, Teasers and Other Meanies . New York: Rainbow Books Incorporated, 1996.

How to Handle Bullies, Teasers and Other Meanies  by Kate Cohen-Posey
This book helps children develop strategies to reverse bullying behavior. Sample dialogues illustrate techniques to defuse bullying The book offers a variety of clear and specific ways to deal with several kinds of verbal taunting. The format includes many little dialogues, a few checklists, and some multiple-choice questions that give the book an open feel and a certain browsability. It's still a useful book giving some much-needed specific help on a too-common problem; adults might find this convenient to keep on hand to help victims.
 

Johnston, Marianne.  Dealing with Bullying.  New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 1996.
Dealing with Bullying by Marianne Johnston
Explains bullying behavior to young children, suggests how to stop it and how to stop being a bully. Full page photographs. The book is extremely short, with one full-page photograph opposite each page of text, yet it may be an effective tool to help children protect themselves from bullies, better understand their behavior, and even help the bullies themselves become friendlier, nicer people. Some words such as "confrontation" and "intimidate" may overwhelm early readers, and the pronunciation guides that follow them are not always helpful, but the book will still prove useful for the intended audience.

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Teacher Resources
 

Bowman, Leslie. Bullies in School: Who are They and How to Make Them Stop . Online Course. <http://universalclass.com/i/education/education/classes/2743.htm>.

Take an online class for bully prevention and intervention plans for schools and families. Successful prevention/intervention plans include not only whole school education, but support for the victims and counseling for the bullies. Successful plans also include ongoing education and consistent enforcement of consequences for bullying behavior. Trying to teach the victim to handle bullying incidents by being assertive and ignoring the behavior and other such nonsense is worse than useless; it serves to further the victim's plight. Successful plans target the cause of the problem, the bully him/herself, not the victim. This class will focus on research and prevention/intervention plans that are comprehensive and successful.

 
Beane, Allan L. "The Bully-Free Classroom." Instructor. Sept. 2000: Find Articles.
Read an excellent  article written by Allan L. Beane about prevention, remediation and elimination of bullying in the classroom.  It provides lessons and discussion topics and skills to teach students how to defend themselves and others against bullies.  It also has the steps to conflict resolution and a print out worksheet to assess student's understanding of bullies.
 

Carter, Jay, and Kathy Noll. Taking the Bully by the Horns. 28 Mar. 1998. <http://hometown.aol.com/kthynoll/bully.htm>.

A self-help book and website, Taking the Bully by the Horns by Kathy Noll and Dr. Jay Carter.  This interesting website explains the book also including self-esteem, control and the “Bully Cycle.” In addition, this website offers an extensive list to bully websites.
 

Siris, Elizabeth. "The Bully Battle." TIME for Kids 27 Oct. 2000. <http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/magazines/story/0,6277,58168,00.html>.
This is an excellent article from TIME for Kids that you can use in discussion circles that talks about bullies and what kids should and should not do.
 

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Thanks to the following sites for images:
Barnes and Noble
Taking the Bully by the Horns
Instructor Magazine
Amazon

 

This website was created on November 30, 2002 by Katie Dhamer