Comment

May 03, 2017
The children’s author of “Stargirl” takes on bullying again, though this time told from the viewpoint of the bully. He (the bully) picks on the neighbor kid because he (the neighbor) has a weird name, is a Quaker, a vegetarian, and always seems cheerful. Readers of “Stargirl”: does this sound familiar? Unlike that book, though, there are no heart-wrenching moral battles, no talk-show turned inquisition, no figurative sacrifice. This was probably written for a couple of grade-levels lower. The bully grows up, finds out about the wider world, experiences a tragedy, and eventually changes his attitude. The tone of the book is mostly humorous, and none of the bullying pranks are particularly serious or hurtful, so this is much lighter than its subject would make it seem. I had a hard time seeing how kids would draw the lesson from it that bullying is bad. Maybe they would read it simply as a funny story. Then again, perhaps they would cheer the unexpected ending.