Lisa Yee's Blog: Dear Bully

I am in an undisclosed location right now. (Hint: Sailing on the American Girl 25th Anniversary Cruise to the Carribbean.) However, through the magic of my Time Machine, here's an event that I took part in not long ago . . .

I was invited to contribute to DEAR BULLY: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories.

At first I thought that I didn't have anything to add to the dialogue. After all, I hadn't been bullied when I was growing up. Plus, I wasn't a bully, myself. Then I realized, perhaps I was worse. Why? Because when others were teased and bullied, I did nothing to stop it.

Here's what the NEW YORK TIMES had to say about the book . . .

My essay is called REGRET. Here's a snippet of it . . .

"Putting someone down was a sport. Like dodgeball, it could be fun or scary, depending on where you stood. However, instead of balls being hurled at you, it was insults. I if you were lucky, eventually the teasing would move on to someone else and you could exhale."

Recently, I joined other DEAR BULLY authors at a reading at Vroman's in Pasadena . . .

Joining me were Melody Shore, Amy Goldman Koss, Cecil Castellucci, and Nancy Holder . . .

Whoops! Where's Melody? Oh, there she is!

We had a full house . . .

And each read our essay . . .

Novelist Elizabeth Massie made these bracelets for us. The yellow bead represents a person in need of protection and support, and the other beads those who rally around them . . .

On the topic of bullying, my novel WARP SPEED is about a Star Trek geek who's beat up every day at school.

I don't write "issue books," I write about kids. However, they do have issues in their lives, and when I write their stories, I hope that my readers can identify with my characters.

Not long ago I received a three-page handwritten letter in the mail . . .

It was from a U.S. Marine based overseas . . .

He continued, "Growing up, I was never the popular kid. In fact I was bullied, not so much physically, but verbally quite horribly, which made my life a living nightmare. Middle school and early high school was tough for me and I hated having to go to school--"

Through running, this soldier gain self-esteem and was able to face his bullies. Today, when he returns to the states, he speaks at anit-bullying events at his old high school.

It gets better. If you don't believe me, here are lots of other authors who feel the same way.

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

CLICK HERE to find out about Lisa's newest book, WARP SPEED!!!

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee