The rules governing middle school are often a mystery, but for Eric Haskins, they’re a mystery he needs to solve, and fast. He’s a normal, average kid, until sixth grade starts. For some inexplicable reason, the class bully and his pack make Eric the Grunt. Even his best friend since first grade turns on him. Eric can’t figure out why he’s the Grunt until he hears about the Bully Book, a cryptic guide that teaches you how to “make trouble without getting in trouble, rule the school and be the man” and how to select the Grunt-the kid who will become the lowest of the low.

Eric Haskins may be this year’s Grunt for now, but he’s determined not to stay at the bottom of the social ladder forever. Hilarious and compelling, The Bully Book is a must-read for every tween, tween parent, librarian and educator!

 

Eric Haskins has just started 6th grade. Up till now, he’s been perfectly normal. He’s had good friends, even a best friend, Donovan. He’s done pretty will at school, he’s never been bullied or gotten into any real fights. Life has always been pretty good for Eric. Of course, that all changed the moment he walked into his 6th grade homeroom class and was labeled the “Grunt.”

What exactly is the “Grunt?” That’s exactly the question that Eric wants to know. Everyone liked him before, so why all of a sudden is he the social outcast? Now, Eric is being constantly bullied by people he’s never even met. He’s being beat up, picked on, humiliated. Poor Eric has got some real trouble on his hands, and he doesn’t even know what he did to cause it.

On a mission to find out what the “Grunt” truly is, he starts to investigate. Shockingly enough, Eric soon learns that he’s not the only Grunt around! In fact, there seems to be one for pretty much every grade level starting after sixth grade. Teaming up with his fellow grunts, Eric sets out to find out exactly why he’s the grunt, what made him the grunt, and how to stop his tormenters and ruin their Bully Book once and for all.

 

The Bully Book was very hard for me to pick up, because I’ve experienced some of the bullying and trauma that Eric was subjected to. I felt like I was going to be placing myself into an unsafe situation which made me a little uncomfortable. Once I picked up The Bully Book, I finished it in an entire setting. I read The Bully Book in under 4 hours, which is the fastest I have read any book since elementary school.

Eric’s story was so realistic that it simply broke my heart throughout most of the entire book. Bullying is a very real thing that goes on in this world, especially in public schools, which is something that Eric Kahn Gale portrayed very nicely. I was captivated from the very first journal entry, and it lasted until the very last page.

One thing that I loved about this book, and it’s probably going to offend some, is how realistic Eric Kahn Gale portrayed the teacher’s in this story. Many teachers out there do not stand up for their student’s who are being bullied. They ignore it, don’t notice it, blame the victim, etc. Is that harsh? Maybe, but that’s what I experienced. I never had a teacher stand up for me, and I went to many different schools. Many teacher’s will not do anything unless the student who is being bullied directly confronts the teacher about it. Why should the student have to say anything? Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are plenty of cases out there where the teacher’s really don’t know that bullying is going on. However, there are MANY cases where they should know. It’s not the student’s responsibility to ask for help. It’s the teacher’s job, and they need to stand up for their student’s.

The substitute teacher in The Bully Book made me so mad. I just wanted to jump into the story and throttle that stupid woman. If student’s were using their vocabulary words to harass another student right in front of me, I would do something about it. I would get student’s suspended or expelled over that, because bullying is NEVER acceptable. NEVER. I was really offended for Eric, and I wish just one person would have really stood up for him.

Another thing that bothered me during The Bully Book were the parents. A parent should know when their child is miserable. They should know when something is wrong. You may not want to admit to yourself that your child is being bullied, but odds are that it has happened at least once. You need to ask your children how other student’s treat them. It doesn’t matter that it’s an uncomfortable conversation or if your child gets angry that you brought it up. What matters is that you took an interest and made sure that they were safe. I honestly, for a large part of this book, thought that Eric was going to commit suicide from the torture that he was receiving. Never once did an adult take an interest in him. Never once did his mom say, “Eric, is everything alright at school?” And his dad? His dad laughed! Not at the fact that Eric was being bullied, but he turned bullying into some sort of joke. It’s not a joke. It’s not funny. It’s actually rather disgusting. And the parent’s in this book disgusted me even more.

I was hoping for a little bit more with Melody, Donovan and Colin, three of the main characters in The Bully Book. Donovan had been Eric’s best friend since the first grade, and, all of a sudden, he hated Eric. He went along with Eric being the grunt and he turned into a complete and utter asshole. I was hoping to see a change in Donovan, and I didn’t. I also wanted to see more interaction between Eric and Donovan. It didn’t matter if it was good or bad interaction, but I really feel that their story is unfinished.

I absolutely despised Melody’s character. Melody played a good friend to Eric, and he also had a really big crush on her. Melody ends up dating the guy who labeled Eric the Grunt, and she watches him get beat up and bullied and doesn’t do anything about it. This is actually very common. I understand that these are sixth graders, but sixth graders are not babies. They know right from wrong, and Melody was definitely in the wrong almost 100% of the time. She’s lucky she wasn’t my kid, because I would have never put up with that. I just wish that we had seen a little more interaction between Melody and Eric towards the end of the book. They definitely have a lot to hash out, and we didn’t get to see that. I’m not sure if there will be a second book, but there’s a lot in The Bully Book that needs to be resolved and finished out.

Then we come to poor, little Colin. Colin was my absolute favorite character, and only a slightly lesser geek in the sixth grade population than Eric. He was so sweet and lovable, and I wish we would have seen Eric and Colin grow into very close friends. That’s what I expected to happen from the beginning, and I was very disappointed that that didn’t happen. I wasn’t very thrilled with how Eric treated Colin, and I really hope to gain the opportunity to watch Eric apologize and have them grow into very close friends.

This book definitely hit a lot of my triggers. If you’ve been bullied, then The Bully Book might be a little difficult for you to read. The messages in it are amazing, though, and I definitely think that everyone should give it a chance. Most importantly, I think that people who haven’t been bullied or people who have bullied other people should read this book. It’s important that you know how you’re making others feel when you pick on them. It’s not ok, and it’s not something that I will or would ever forgive. Bullying is a big issue in America and it needs to stop. The Bullying Book was an amazing read that took me on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. My heart broke, my eyes welled with tears, and I swear my blood pressure rose massive amounts. I got angry, sad, happy, fearful….all these emotions that I can’t even describe to you guys. I definitely will be looking out for more work by Eric Kahn Gale. Great book!

 

Pages: 240

Publication Date: December 26th, 2012

Publisher: HarperCollins

Rating: :

 

Teaser Quote: “I hate the Bully Book and I hate the Grunt.”

“Stop making fun of Colin. It makes you sound like an idiot. And stop calling people gay. I don’t even know why that’s an insult. There are real gay people in the world, you know, and there’s nothing wrong with them. Calling someone gay, like it’s a bad thing, is like calling someone a dentist- it doesn’t make any freaking sense!”( Pg 139 ARC)

Anna remembers a time before boys, when she was little and everything made sense. When she and her mom were a family, just the two of them against the world. But now her mom is gone most of the time, chasing the next marriage, bringing home the next stepfather. Anna is left on her own—until she discovers that she can make boys her family. From Desmond to Joey, Todd to Sam, Anna learns that if you give boys what they want, you can get what you need. But the price is high—the other kids make fun of her; the girls call her a slut. Anna’s new friend, Toy, seems to have found a way around the loneliness, but Toy has her own secrets that even Anna can’t know.

Then comes Sam. When Anna actually meets a boy who is more than just useful, whose family eats dinner together, laughs, and tells stories, the truth about love becomes clear. And she finally learns how it feels to have something to lose—and something to offer. Real, shocking, uplifting, and stunningly lyrical, Uses for Boys is a story of breaking down and growing up.

Uses for Boys is not at all what I expected. It’s dark. Very dark. But real. Sad, haunting, humanizing. Uses for Boys provides a look into the world we generally try to pretend doesn’t exist because it hurts too much to imagine people going through these lives on a daily basis. Anna is a broken individual. She lets boys use her over and over again, all the while telling herself it’s for love. She learned this pattern from her often-absent mother, who reenters Anna’s life every couple of months in a feeble attempt at parenting, before gracelessly bowing out.

This book is not about relationships. It’s not about love. It’s not even really about boys or their uses and in that way, I find both the title and synopsis a bit misleading. Yes, all those elements are in the story, but the real story is Anna’s; her growth, her fall, and her attempt to scrape her back from rock-bottom. There isn’t really a happy ending. There’s just her emotional journey and a final glimpse at hope.

My favorite aspect of Uses for Boys is the writing. Scheidt’s writing is so, so powerful and lyrical. The pages fly by. The words seem to sing. I think Scheidt chose the best possible method to tell this story. The writing both captures Anna’s voice and lends a sense of beauty to every heart-wrenching scene. I will definitely read another book by Scheidt just to return to this writing style.

However, while I appreciated the novel’s beauty and cared about Anna and her journey, I found a lot of the novel lacking. While Anna’s emotional journey is engaging, her everyday life is so completely dull. I’d be happy to accept this contrast, except after seeing how strong Anna is, I have a tough time believing she just simply lets all these things happen to her rather than try to live her life for so many chapters. Toward the end, she starts actually doing more, but I expected that sort of behavior from her throughout the novel.

In addition, I feel there’s a significant lack of character development. Toy is the most important female influence in Anna’s life but, given a surprising reveal at the story’s end, we come to find out we actually know nothing about her. Her character doesn’t lend much to the book or Ana’s life, which is quite a disappointment as I feel Scheidt could have used her so much more. And then, we’re left without closure. I know the final scene is supposed to seem uplifting, but without a conclusion for Toy, I can’t help feeling unsatisfied. The same can be said for Jane and Anna’s mother. Though both play significant roles in Anna’s life and mean a lot to her, we never really receive an ending for them, either.

We do get more of a sense of closure-or at least the promise of happiness-for Sam and Anna. But again, this is almost unsatisfying as I don’t think Sam is sufficiently characterized. How does he come to love Anna? We skip over a majority of the beginning of their relationship, which is actually a very pivotal time for Anna, a time I think we deserve to see. Their ending also reads as a bit rushed and forced, rather than completely intentional.

But maybe all that just adds up to asking for a happier ending, when happy endings aren’t necessarily indicative of real life. Things are often messy, important words left unsaid and stories left without conclusions. Perhaps the fact that I have so many questions proves that Scheidt did her job well. If I have questions, it’s because I care and want to know more about these characters and this world. And it’s true, the entire time I was reading, I was extremely invested in Anna’s life. I picked the book up and didn’t want to put it down until I finished. It’s a quick read, though it deals with heavy subjects (including numerous sex scenes, the topic of abortion, underage drinking, and drug use). But I think Scheidt handles her subject realistically and maturely. This is an engaging book and I think it’s important for girls to have a chance to see why our romantic relationships don’t define us; we need to take care of ourselves before even thinking about taking care of another person. No matter what, your happiness always comes first, and that important message is realized within the pages of Uses for Boys.

Pages: 240
Publication Date: January 2013
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Source: NetGalley
Rating :

Teaser Quote: “Sometimes kids come into the cafe after school and sometimes I’m invisible to them. I want someone to ask me why I’m there. Why I’m not in school. I want someone to recognize that I’m a kid just like they are. And then Sam does.“

Love—good and bad—forces three teens’ worlds to tilt in a riveting novel from New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins.

Three teens, three stories—all interconnected through their parents’ family relationships. As the adults pull away, caught up in their own dilemmas, the lives of the teens begin to tilt….

Mikayla, almost eighteen, is over-the-top in love with Dylan, who loves her back jealously. But what happens to that love when Mikayla gets pregnant the summer before their senior year—and decides to keep the baby?

Shane turns sixteen that same summer and falls hard in love with his first boyfriend, Alex, who happens to be HIV positive. Shane has lived for four years with his little sister’s impending death. Can he accept Alex’s love, knowing that his life, too, will be shortened?

Harley is fourteen—a good girl searching for new experiences, especially love from an older boy. She never expects to hurdle toward self-destructive extremes in order to define who she is and who she wants to be.

Love, in all its forms, has crucial consequences in this standalone novel.

 

Mikayla: A girl head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Dylan. A love of weed, boos and parties. A family that’s tearing apart at the seams. An unwanted pregnancy that will change her life forever.

Shane: Out of the close. In love with a boy named Alex, who just happens to have HIV. A drunk father who looks upon him with disgust. A little sister heading toward death. A mother with almost no hope.

Harley: A fourteen year old who sees nothing but fat when she looks in the mirror. Divorced parents, one heading toward a new marriage. A desperate search to find out who she is. Drugs. Boos. Sex. False Love.

Shelby: A four-year-old who is regarded as a person with no sense of life. Confined to tube feeding forever. Hovering on the brink of death, she just wants her family to be happy.

Alex: HIV positive. In love with Shane. Catholic Private school. On his way to an Ivy League.

 

All of these characters, among many more, play a major role in Tilt by Ellen Hopkins. A novel of poetry, rape, love, depression, homosexuality, HIV, drugs, sex, teen pregnancy, mental illness, death, and self discovery. Join Mikayla, Shane, Harley and the rest of the people that surround their lives in this realistic, contemporary piece that Hopkins has built.

 

I have never been a fan of poetry or even contemporary books, if I want to be honest. I’ve never seemed to understand poetry or appreciate the realistic theme of contemporary books. Sometimes life just sucks, and, for the most part, I don’t want to read about it. I like to submerge myself into the unrealistic. The werewolves, vampires, witches, and other things that go bump in the night take me away from the realities of the world. It’s a chance to escape and put myself into a whole other universe. While Tilt, by Ellen Hopkins, was as real as it can possibly get, I found myself devouring it. I would sit down and read hundreds of pages at a time, lost in the depression that shaped the character’s lives. I was hooked plain and simple.

It took my awhile to get attached to Tilt, because I had to adjust to Hopkins unique writing style. I’ve never read a book by Hopkins before, so it caught me a little off guard that the entire book was poetry. It wasn’t difficult to read, though. Unlike the poetry that we’re forced to read in school, Tilt was an actual story with beautiful form and breathtaking words. It was also a very fast read. Most books fill up their pages with words, while Tilt had a brief section of words on each page.

Some of the topics that Tilt introduced were really easy to read, while others were really hard for me to get through. I loved the topic of teen pregnancy. I am so addicted to movies and books that discuss teen pregnancy because they are so real. Teen pregnancy is a major thing that goes on in today’s society. When I was a junior in high school, there were three senior girls who were almost to term with their pregnancy. Today, most of the girl’s from my very first high school are either pregnant, married, or both. I’m not kidding when I use the word “most.” Honestly, I don’t know a girl at my first high school who doesn’t have a kid or a husband. I thought that Hopkins beautifully portrayed how teen pregnancy truly is. She didn’t sugar coat it or make everything turn out okay. She was realistic with how things work in real life.

I did have a problem when it came to Harley’s story, probably because I related to her the most. I had a big issue watching a fourteen-year-old girl suffer through weight problems, deal with a dirtbag father, have divorced parents, and look toward other’s for love. The beginning of Harley’s story wasn’t too intense, but by the time I made it to the last quarter of the book, I found it very difficult to read the pages dedicated to her. It wasn’t because the writing was bad. Actually, the writing was beautiful. However, I had big issues with some of the topics that came up in this story.

Ellen Hopkins did such a great job of portraying the love between Shane and his boyfriend. This is a very controversial topic for some people, but I was in love with it from the moment I read the synopsis. Gay love and homosexuality in general need to be more explored in young adult books, because it is a real life topic. Being gay does not make someone unequal or unimportant. I really enjoyed watching the growth of of Shane’s dad. He was really against Shane ever since he came out of the closet. He would preach to Shane and tell him what an abomination he was, and that really effected me. Shane, while a fictional character, reminded me of people I’ve met in similar situations. To me, Shane was a real person with his own issues and emotions. To me, he was no less than a straight person, and I loved him from the get go.

I had a bit of a problem with understanding who was who and who was related to whom. Everyone seemed to know eachother, and I was pretty lost throughout most of the book on how people knew eachother. It wasn’t a big deal, but I found myself kind of giving up on that aspect of the book.

The only thing that I really questioned in this book, besides who knew who, was how realistic it was that an entire branch of family was so messed up. I would have preferred that none of the characters knew each other, and that we were witnessing people from all over the United States. I only say this because I have a large branch of family, and I know other people who do as well. I’m not saying that this can never happen to one family, but from my perspective, I’ve witnessed it usually being one family and the rest of their family stays out of it. However, I did enjoy how real and true Hopkins stayed to her story lines. She didn’t cut around the edges or add something fake in to draw in her readers. She told it how it was, and I really appreciated that.

I do have to warn people that the topics of rape and mental abuse are included in this story. Most of the guys, especially the teenage boys, in this story really offended and disgusted me. It is never okay for someone to pressure you into sex or to request favors that you are not interested in. It is never okay for someone to give you ultimatums or to make you feel obligated to do something you don’t want to do. It is never ok for your partner to pull guilt trips or to constantly make you feel bad or worthless just to get their way. These are all forms of abuse, and if you’re experiencing them, then you need to contact an adult or the police. Please keep in mind that it doesn’t matter if you’re married or not. Abuse is abuse and rape is rape. Never put up with it. I want you all to know that you can always contact me about these things going on in your life, and I will keep it between us unless you officially tell me you’re a minor. You can go through our contact info on the tabs above and specifically request to speak to me. I will not judge you, but I am always here to talk to. You can also contact me via our twitter page.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was beautiful and realistic, and it moved me in more ways than I can express. To me, the ending was a little unfinished. I would really like to see what happens with the rest of their lives and how they work through their struggles. Everyone needs to go buy or borrow this book immediately, as it is a must read.

 

Pages: 604

Publication Date: September 11th, 2012

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Rating: :

 

Teaser Quote: “And if candor
strikes to forcefully,
step back, draw careful
breath, and consider the angle
your words must take
before you open
your mouth, let them leak
out. Because once you tilt the truth,
it becomes a lie.”