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At first glance I thought this book was a loser, but I decided to read it to a group of 2nd graders anyway. To my surprise and delight the 7 year olds loved this book . I have subsequently read this book to 3 other 2 ms grade classes with huge success. The subject of bullying seems to be in every child's experience and they like the idea that bullying can be overcome.

My 7 year old son asked for this for his birthday and has read it 3 times in the last week. Great book!

Great book! Read it to my high school teacher cadets, and we loved the message!

I'm a school counselor and I read this book to all my 3rd grade classes. It's really a great read. It's simple and you definitely need to stop and talk about it but everyone loved it.

good lesson

Sorry, Ms. Cuyler, I just don't buy the ending of, "Bullies Never Win." You do an excellent job describing how worrier Jessica's peace is cut up by the bully in her class, and the illustrations by Arthur Howard give the book a nice balance between the humor and the seriousness of the subject. Her difficulties with the class meany escalate until her mother finds out. Cuyler handles this well; Mom asks just the right question to find out what's really bothering her. "Why don't you talk to Mr. Martin?" she suggests. "If he knew that Brenda was bullying you, he'd do something about it."

Jessica should have talked to Mr. Martin about Brenda. By this time, Brenda has became a first class tease with a little clique of annoying friends around her at all times. From a literary standpoint, however, this would be taking the action of the book from the child and turning it over to the adult character, a no-no in children's literature. So Jessica stands up suddenly in the cafeteria and talks back to Brenda with guts. Great! A quick comeback! And Brenda just slinks away in embarrassment.

And Jessica never worries again.

Yeah, right.

I can't help but think this book is setting a child up for failure. Take on that bully yourself - it's easy, he/she'll back off as soon as you open your mouth with the first snappy comeback that comes to mind. "I don't think Brenda will pick on me anymore," said Jessica. "But even if she does, I know what to do." What's little Jessica going to do when Brenda ups the ante on her and starts using words that humiliate her or scare tactics? Bullies Never Win offers a quick unsatisfying fix to what can be a genuinely terrifying problem in a small child's life. The very title obviates the real suffering a child can undergo in such a situation. Jessica would have been more truly the winning heroine had she allowed herself to have that conversation with her teacher that her mother suggested - and would have been setting a better example for young readers.

As I was reading through this book the first time, I was incredibly impressed with Cuyler's excellent portrayal of the the emotional stress and isolation of a child who is being picked on at school. The way that she discusses Jessica's incessant worrying, and her reaction to Brenda's constant taunting -- to the extent of ruining her day-to-day school experience and even interfering with her learning -- are very realistic. As the mother of a 6 year old, I was struck by the very authentic picture of this little girl. I think it's rare to find someone who clearly understands the inner world of little kids, especially little girls (whom this sort of book is rarely about).

That said, there are some things that strike me as odd. First, this book isn't really about bullying, at least not the way I think about the word. Bullying has always implied to me some sort of physical threat, and usually some sort of action that the bully wants from the victim. From the title, the book simply isn't about what I expected it to be about. I think the concept is just excellent, but the title does it no service. Now truthfully, this may be girls' equivalent to bullying, as girls (at least the little middle-class white girls pictured in this story) are much more likely to encounter the social taunting, cliques and isolation this book describes than any sort of physical violence. Which brings me to my next issue, which is the complete and total lack of diversity of color or class that this book encompasses.

This story takes place in a first grade classroom, which feels a little young to me. My daughter just finished first grade and didn't find it to be quite so stressful and insecure and calculating just yet. First graders, traditionally 6 and 7 years old are a little young for this sort of social awareness. There may be a socially mature kid like Brenda, but the less socially mature kids (my daughter is one of them) are more oblivious to the differences than pained by them. And I haven't found that the "Brendas" are *mean* yet. They are simply social leaders, not get clique leaders or mean. I'd think of this story as more appropriate at the 3rd or *maybe* 2nd grade level...but they aren't going to want to hear a story about 1st graders.

Finally, the ending is just a little too tidy for my taste. Jessica stands up with one smart alec rhyme calling Brenda a bully and she gets embarrassed and folds. I don't buy it.

So while this book is an excellent, and I mean excellent, discussion of the feelings of being excluded, being picked on and generally not being one of the social elite in the world of little girls, and for that alone, because it did it so amazingly, I gave it 4 stars as worth reading. But some discussion of whether the solution is realistic, what more could and should happen and what it means to be a bully would be needed in a personal or classroom setting to really make this book valuable.

For another excellent, excellent book on bullying and standing up for oneself and others, try One by Katherine Otoshi.