Bystander

Author: James Preller
Recommended Age: 10 +
Publisher: Square Fish
ISBN:  978-0-312-54796-7
Year Published: 2011
No. Pages: 256
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Main Character Gender: Male
Read & Reviewed by: Kyle



“A bystander or the bully's next target?”

Eric is new to town, and is starting seventh grade. He meets Griffin, a popular kid who befriends Eric making him less lonely. Soon, he discovers that although Griffin seems cool, he is a bully who rules the school and has adults fooled. Eric decides to avoid Griffin and do the right thing, but instead, he becomes Griffin's next target.

My favourite character in the book was Eric. Written in first person narrative, I really got to know Eric and understand his feelings as he went from bystander to victim.  Through his internal voice and by watching his actions as a reader, Eric was able to show many aspects of bullying. I was able to see Griffin through Eric’s perspective in many different ways making it challenging to simply label Eric as a bully. Both the boys have strenuous relationships with their fathers and this underlying theme makes the characters more realistic and adds another level to the novel.
 
This book showed me how having a fear of speaking up can make things a lot worse for yourself. It explored many aspects of bullying such as verbal abuse, humiliation, stealing and black mailing. The book showed how bullies aren't always how or what you'd expect the to be, and that sometimes they can seem charming even though they're not. I learned that it can take courage to do the right thing by reading this book.

I found the title of novel well chosen. Eric was, at least initially, a bystander in school. Many of us don’t understand that when we don’t say anything and observe people being bullied, we are contributing to the problem. Standing up has its risks but change is worth it. I found this book easy to relate to because I have been bullied and I have been a bystander. Bullying is a big issue in the everyday life of any kid at school. Many books have been written about this subject and this book is one of the better ones. It was descriptive without being too detailed or preachy.

I found Bystander to be a good read, and it was hard for me to put it down.  It was easy to understand the points Preller was trying to make. I read the book in one night and would rate it an 8 out of 10 .