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Anti-Bullying Resources in the Delaware Library Catalog

Written on: November 3rd, 2009 by: in Blog Posts, Learning

(Note: this posting was updated on October 13th, 2010) This month’s Young Adult Library Services, a periodical for library staff who work with young adult and teen users, includes an outstanding article featuring anti-bullying books, magazines, and online resources.
While Delaware schools feature a number of outstanding anti-bullying programs, along with a statutory requirement for school districts to implement, it’s still a national problem that has a terrible impact on children- the NEA estimates that 160,000 children skip school each day to avoid bullying, and it’s the main safety concern of girls aged 8-17, according to a 2003 Harris Poll. For Gay and Lesbian teens, the vast majority suffer some form of bullying on a regular basis, and most do not feel safe at school.

The Delaware Bullying Prevention Association recommends these titles to teachers and parents

• Bullying at School
• Queen Bees and Wanabees
• Odd Girl Speaks Out
• The Anti-Bullying Handbook

UPDATE: The ebook publisher Ebrary recently made these selected titles freely available at their Cyberbullying Information Center, some of which are also available in print through your library

• Keep Your Kids Safe on the Internet

• Bullying Prevention and Intervention, by Susan Swearer
• Click Click, Who’s Really There? Protect Your Family from Online Predators

The YALSA article recommends the following novels and short story collections for young adult readers:

• Alt ed, Catherine Atkins’ modern day “Breakfast Club” features the stories of outcast students in a special detention program
• In Ian Bone’s Sleep Rough Tonight, a student seeks to escape being bullied by becoming friends with a violent peer
• Traitor Game is B.R. Collins fantasy novel that includes bullying amongst its themes
• Sharon Draper’s The Battle of Jericho explores the blurry line between hazing, initiation, and bullying
• Donald Gallo’s On the Fringe is a short-story collection
• Endgame by Nancy Garden
• Sue Mayfield’s Drowning Anna deals with a bullying-related suicide
• Shana Norris deals with cyber-bullying in her novel Something to Blog About
• Bullying’s relation to school violence is explored in Give a Boy a Gun

One final selection for pre-school and early grades is the multiple award-winning One by Kathryn Otoshi, which mixes fundamental numeracy concepts with a message about difference and acceptance.

The article also recommends a number of websites which provide anti-bullying information to various audiences, including www.pacerkidsagainstbullying.org, a kid-oriented site which includes links for parents and professionals; www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.org, which is maintained by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of Health and Human Services, is also aimed at kids and provides worksheets, comics, and animated webisodes dealing with the topic. Online resources on cyberbullying include www.cyberbullying.us and www.stopcyberbullying.org. Finally, the George Washington University’s Hamilton Fish Institute is a clearing house for all kinds of information, research and resources on all aspects of school violence including bullying.

UPDATE: In the aftermath of the Tyler Clemente tragedy there has been a renewed focus on the impact of bullying on gay teens. SafeSchools.org produced this factsheet on the issue (opens in a new window), as did the advocacy group Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). You can view the GLSEN resource page at this link.

Finally, it’s crucial to remind the victims of anti-gay bias: for most, it does get better: Video Testimonials on YouTube