Beating Bullying

All too often, adults shrug off bullying as just a normal part of childhood. Even teachers and parents who were quick to react to cases of physical bullying frequently saw verbal bullying as unavoidable and harmless. However, recent incidents, including the suicides of bullied teenagers Phoebe Prince in Massachusetts and Tyler Long in Georgia, have forced many Americans to reexamine their ideas about verbal bullying and its victims. In this insightful narrative, students understand and identify damaging verbal encounters, who gets targeted by verbal bullies and why, what makes someone a verbal bully, what to expect from an encounter with a verbal bully and ways to respond, who to ask for help, efforts that schools and communities are taking to destroy the bullying culture, anti-bullying legislation, and the federal Stop Bullying Now! Campaign.