The Bully Book: A Novel by Eric Kahn Gale

The Bully Book: A Novel by Eric Kahn Gale is about what happens when someone writes a guide for how to "rule the school" and passes it down from one year to the next.  One day, Eric Hastings is a completely normal 6th grader with friends and hopes for his final year in elementary school, and the next he's the "Grunt".  Suddenly, everyone in his class begins taunting him, calling him terrible names, abusing his character... bullying him.  Eventually, things seem a little too formulaic to Eric and he begins to uncover where this mistreatment is stemming.  A Bully Book.  As he begins to learn more and more about his three tormentors and those who came before him, Eric meets others who were 6th grade "Grunts".  Things really begin coming together when Eric puts clues together and figures out who the author of the Bully Book was (years ago) and the original grunt.  All he really wants to do is find out why he was the one who was targeted, and he knows that answer lies within the book.  Once he finds it, what will happen to Eric?

This was an interesting story.  It is told alternately between Eric's journal and the Bully Book itself.  The author's not indicates that the story is loosely based on the author's own experiences as a child - being tormented by what seemed like the entire class.  Bullying is such a touchy subject, and I think this author did a fantastic job of showing exactly what it can be like for those on the receiving end.  He accurately portrayed the embarrassment, self-blame and doubt in the main character.  I would recommend this book to anyone in middle school, particularly boys.