LISA MCMANN is the New York Times bestselling author of the Wake trilogy, Cryer’s Cross, and Dead to You, and the dystopian fantasy series The Unwanteds for younger readers. Before writing novels, Lisa worked as a blueberry picker, a bindery worker in a printing company, an independent bookseller, and a realtor. Lisa grew up in Michigan and lived there until 2004. Now she lives in the Phoenix area with her husband and two teenagers. Read more about Lisa at www.lisamcmann.com or find her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/McMannFan) or Twitter (@lisa_mcmann).
DAWN METCALF, the author of Luminous, has no good excuse for the way she writes. She lived in a normal, loving, suburban home, studied hard, went to college, went to graduate school, got married, had babies, and settled down in northern Connecticut. Despite this wholesome lifestyle, she has been clearly corrupted by fairy tales, puppet visionaries, British humor, and graphic novels. As a result, she writes dark, quirky, and sometimes humorous speculative fiction. Visit her online at www.dawnmetcalf.com.
SAUNDRA MITCHELL has been a phone psychic, a car salesperson, a denture delivery person, and a layout waxer. She’s dodged trains, endured basic training, and hitchhiked from Montana to California. She teaches herself languages, raises children, and makes paper for fun. She’s also a screenwriter for Fresh Films and the author of Shadowed Summer, The Vespertine, and The Springsweet. She always picks truth; dares are too easy. Visit her online at www.saundramitchell.com.
R. A. NELSON is the author of the novels Teach Me, Breathe My Name, Days of Little Texas, and Throat. He was chosen as a Horn Book Newcomer, and his books have been recognized by the Parents’ Choice Awards, the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list, and Book Sense Kid Picks, and have been nominated to the YALSA Best Books for Young Adults list. Nelson lives with his family in northern Alabama and works at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Visit him online at www.ranelsonbooks.com.
ALYSON NOËL is the number one New York Times bestselling author of the Immortals series (Evermore, Blue Moon, Shadowland, Dark Flame, Night Star, and the sixth and final book, Everlasting); the Immortals spin-off series beginning with Radiance; Faking 19; and Art Geeks and Prom Queens. She lives in Laguna Beach, California. Visit her online at www.alysonnoel.com.
LAUREN OLIVER comes from a family of writers and has always been an avid reader. She graduated from the University of Chicago, attended the MFA program at New York University, and worked briefly as the world’s worst editorial assistant, and only marginally better assistant editor, at a major publishing house in New York. Her major career contributions during this time were flouting the corporate dress code and breaking the printer. Her debut novel, Before I Fall, was a New York Times bestseller. She is also the author of Delirium and her debut novel for younger readers, Liesl & Po. Visit her online at www.laurenoliverbooks.com.
MICOL OSTOW is half Puerto Rican, half Jewish, half reader, half writer, and, when under deadline, often half asleep. Micol was working as an editor of young adult fiction when she began to write her own books; since then, she has published more than 40 works for readers of all ages. She is the author of Emily Goldberg Learns to Salsa, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, the graphic novel hybrid So Punk Rock (And Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother), a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Teens, and the novel in verse family, loosely based on the Manson family murders of 1969. Visit her online at www.micolostow.com.
MARLENE PEREZ is the author of the Dead Is series, The Comeback, and Love in the Corner Pocket. She lives in Orange County, California. Visit her online at www.marleneperez.com.
APRILYNNE PIKE is the number one New York Times bestselling author of the Wings series, which includes Wings, Spells, and Illusions. She lives in Arizona with her husband and three kids. Visit her online at www.aprillynnepike.com.
AMY REED was born and raised around Seattle, where she attended a total of eight schools by the time she was eighteen. After a brief stint at Reed College (no relation), she moved to San Francisco and spent the next several years serving coffee and getting into trouble. She eventually graduated from film school and is now the author of Beautiful and Clean. Visit her online at www.amyreedfiction.com.
DEBBIE RIGAUD began her writing career covering news and entertainment for magazines, including Seventeen, Twist, and CosmoGIRL!. She’s interviewed celebs, politicians, and other social figures, but enjoyed interviewing “real girls” the most. A total Jersey girl at heart, Debbie lives in Bermuda with her husband. Catch her on bookshelves (Perfect Shot and Hallway Diaries) and online at www.debbierigaud.com.
CARRIE RYAN is the New York Times bestselling author of several critically acclaimed novels set decades after the zombie apocalypse: The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which was named to the ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, and New York Public Library Stuff for the Teen Age lists; The Dead-Tossed Waves; and The Dark and Hollow Places. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Carrie is a graduate of Williams College and Duke University School of Law. A former litigator, she now writes full time and lives with her husband (who is even more amazing than a cowboy) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Visit her online at www.carrieryan.com.
KURTIS SCALETTA was born in Louisiana and grew up in New Mexico, North Dakota, England, Liberia, Brazil, and a few other places. His books for young readers include Mudville, which was an ALA Booklist “Top 10 Sports Books for Youth”; Mamba Point, which Kirkus Reviews, in a starred review, called an “expertly voiced narrative . . . tinted with magical realism that is by turns scary and very funny”; and The Tanglewood Terror. Kurtis now lives in Minneapolis with his wife, their son, and several cats. To learn more about him and his books, visit him online at www.kurtisscaletta.com.
MELISSA SCHORR is the author of Goy Crazy, a romantic comedy about interfaith dating that was named a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. A graduate of the Bronx High School of Science and Northwestern University, Melissa was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. She currently works and lives as a journalist outside Boston with her two daughters, her husband, and their terrier, Bailey. Visit her online at www.melissaschorr.com.
LISA SCHROEDER is a native Oregonian and lives there still with her husband and two sons. She is the author of three novels in verse for young adults: I Heart You, You Haunt Me; Far from You; and Chasing Brooklyn. Visit her online at www.lisaschroederbooks.com.
JON SCIESZKA was born in Flint, Michigan, on September 8, 1954. He grew up with five brothers, has the same birthday as Peter Sellers and the Virgin Mary, and has a sneaking suspicion that the characters in his Dick and Jane reader were not of this world. Those plain facts, plus his elementary school principal dad, Louis; his registered nurse mom, Shirley; Mad magazine; four years of premed undergrad; The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show; an MFA in fiction from Columbia University; Robert Benchley; five years of painting apartments in New York City; his lovely wife, Jeri Hansen, who introduced him to Molly Leach and Lane Smith; Green Eggs and Ham; his teenage daughter, Casey, and almost teenage son, Jake; ten years of teaching a little bit of everything from first grade to eighth grade; and the last twenty years of living in Brooklyn . . . are just some of Jon’s answers to the questions “Where do you get your ideas?” and/or “How did you become a writer?” Visit him online at www.jsworldwide.com.
KIERAN SCOTT is the author of the She’s So Dead to Us trilogy, the Non-Blonde Cheerleader trilogy, and Geek Magnet. In her spare time, Kieran writes the New York Times bestselling Private and Privilege series under the pseudonym Kate Brian, and has written several other novels under that name. Kieran has lived in New Jersey all her life (but looks nothing like Snooki), and graduated from Rutgers University with honors. Kieran loves to bake, read YA, watch football (Go Giants!), take Pilates classes, and ride her bike with her husband and son. Also, she’s kind of obsessed with TV. You can find out more online at www.kieranscott.net, or follow her on Twitter @kieranscott.
COURTNEY SHEINMEL, author of My So-Ca
lled Family, Positively, and Sincerely, grew up in California and New York. She is a graduate of Barnard College of Columbia University and Fordham University School of Law. Visit her online at www.courtneysheinmel.com.
MELODYE SHORE vowed in third grade that she would grow up to be the kind of teacher she wished she’d had. For much of her professional life, she did just that. As a teacher of English, reading, and other subjects, she worked primarily with underprepared and disadvantaged students. And as president of the National Association of Developmental Education (NADE), she helped make them visible to a broader audience across the United States and in other countries. Her current book project chronicles an itinerant childhood, in which Melodye and her family crisscrossed the country in a cramped sedan, holding revival meetings wherever they landed. While she still enjoys traveling, Melodye feels most at home in Southern California, where she lives with her husband. Visit her online at www.melodyeshore.com.
JANNI LEE SIMNER has published three books for teens: Bones of Faerie, its sequel, Faerie Winter, and Thief Eyes. She is also the author of four books for younger readers and more than 30 short stories. Visit her online at www.simner.com.
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH is the New York Times bestselling author of the gothic fantasies Tantalize, Eternal, and Blessed. She also has written several short stories for teens as well as award-winning books for younger readers. She is a tribally enrolled citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and makes her home in Austin, Texas, with her husband and sometimes coauthor Greg Leitich Smith. She is also on the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program. Visit her online at www.cynthialeitichsmith.com.
So far, R.L. STINE’s books, including the Fear Street and Goosebumps series, have sold over 300 million copies. He lives in New York City. Visit him online at www.rlstine.com.
LAURIE FARIA STOLARZ is the author of Deadly Little Secret, Deadly Little Lies, Deadly Little Games, Deadly Little Voices, Project 17, and Bleed, as well as the bestselling Blue Is for Nightmares series. Born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts, Laurie attended Merrimack College and received an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College in Boston. For more information, visit her online at www.lauriestolarz.com.
Award-winning author TANYA LEE STONE writes for kids and teens. Her books include the teen novel A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl and nonfiction for older readers The Good, The Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll’s History and Her Impact on Us and Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream. Her work has received the Robert F. Sibert Medal, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor, and the Bank Street College of Education’s Flora Steiglitz Straus Award. She teaches writing at Champlain College. Visit her online at www.tanyastone.com.
RACHEL VAIL is a multiple award-winning author of more than thirty books for children and teenagers. Her novels include Justin Case: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters; the Avery Sisters Trilogy (Lucky, Gorgeous, and Brilliant); If We Kiss; and the Friendship Ring series. Rachel lives in New York City with her husband and two sons. You can visit her online at www.rachelvail.com.
MELISSA WALKER is a writer who has worked as the ELLEgirl features editor and Seventeen prom editor. All in the name of journalism, she has spent twenty-four hours with male models and attended an elite finishing school for girls in New Zealand, among other hardships. Melissa is the author of Lovestruck Summer, Violet on the Runway, Violet by Design, and Violet in Private. She graduated from Vassar College and lives in Brooklyn. Visit her online at www.melissacwalker.com.
Born to a Puerto Rican father and a Polish mother, DIANA RODRIGUEZ WALLACH has experienced the cultures that her characters live in. Her debut novel was Amor and Summer Secrets. She has worked as a reporter and as an advocate for inner-city public schools. She currently lives in Philadelphia with her husband. Visit her online at www.dianarodriguezwallach.com.
DANIEL WATERS is the author of the Generation Dead series. Visit him online at www.watersdan.blogspot.com.
SARA BENNETT WEALER grew up in Kansas and now lives in Ohio with her husband and daughters. She is the author of Rival. Visit her online at www.sarabennettwealer.com.
STEVEN E. WEDEL is a lifelong Oklahoman. He’s held many jobs, including machinist and journalist, but is currently a high school English teacher. He is the coauthor, with Carrie Jones, of After Obsession. Visit Steven online at www.stevenewedel.com.
NANCY WERLIN is the author of eight YA novels so far, which include The Killer’s Cousin (winner of the Edgar Award), The Rules of Survival (a National Book Award finalist), Impossible (a New York Times bestseller), and Extraordinary (an Amazon.com Top 10 Book). She lives near Boston with her husband, Jim McCoy. Visit her online at www.nancywerlin.com.
KIERSTEN WHITE is the New York Times bestselling author of Paranormalcy and its sequel, Supernaturally. She has one tall husband and two small children and lives near the ocean in San Diego. Visit her online at www.kierstenwhite.com.
Three-time Caldecott honoree MO WILLEMS is known for his bestselling picture books featuring Pigeons, Knuffle Bunnies, and Elephant & Piggies. Work for older audiences includes the cartoon travelog You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons and works in Every Man for Himself, Guys Read, and the Monkeysuit comix anthologies. Mo created the Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City and was the head writer for Codename: Kids Next Door before making books. Visit him online at www.mowillems.com.
MARYROSE WOOD, a former Broadway actor, comedian, and playwright, is proud to be a contributor to this anthology. She is the author of The Mysterious Howling and The Hidden Gallery, the first two volumes of The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, The Poison Diaries, a gothic trilogy for teens based on a concept by the Duchess of Northumberland, My Life: The Musical, and Why I Let My Hair Grow Out. For more information, visit her online at www.maryrosewood.com.
LISA YEE is the author of ten novels, including Millicent Min, Girl Genius, recipient of the Sid Fleischman Humor Award; her Bobby Ellis-Chan series for younger readers; Absolutely Maybe, for teens; and Warp Speed, which follows seventh grader Marley Sandlesky, a Star Trek geek who gets beat up every day at school. A Thurber House Children’s Writer-in-Residence, Lisa has been named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start and a USA Today Critics’ Top Pick. Lisa lives in South Pasadena, California, with her family. You can visit her online at www.lisayee.com or check out her blog at www.lisayee.livejournal.com.
LARA ZEISES is the author of six books for teenagers, including Contents Under Pressure and The Sweet Life of Stella Madison. Her novel True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet (published under the pseudonym Lola Douglas) was made into a Lifetime movie. Lara earned her MFA in creative writing from Emerson College. She works for the International Reading Association and leads fiction workshops at the University of Delaware. You can visit her online at www.zeisgeist.com.
MICHELLE ZINK has always been fascinated with ancient myths and legends. Never satisfied with simply reading them, she usually ends up asking, “What if?” Sometimes asking only leads to more questions, but every now and then, when everything falls into place just right, a story is born. Prophecy of the Sisters, Guardian of the Gate, and Circle of Fire were three of those stories. She lives in New York. Visit her online at www.michellezink.com.
Credits
COVER ART © 2011 GETY IMAGESCOVER DESIGN BY BECKY TERHUNE
Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
See copyright extension page for complete copyright listing.
Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechan
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dear bully : seventy authors tell their stories / edited by Carrie Jones and Megan Kelley Hall. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-06-206098-3 (tr. bdg.)
ISBN 978-0-06-206097-6 (pbk. bdg.)
1. Bullying—United States—Juvenile literature. 2. School discipline—United States. I. Jones, Carrie. II. Kelley Hall, Megan.
BF637.B85D43 2011
302.3—dc22
2011010166
CIP
AC
EPub Edition © AUGUST 2011 ISBN: 9780062060990
11 12 13 14 15 LP/BV 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
Copyright (continued)
“Why Do We Celebrate Bullying?” © 2011 by Ellen Hopkins
“Dear Bully” © 2011 by Laurie Faria Stolarz
“Love Letter to My Bully” © 2011 by Tonya Hurley
“Dear Audrey” © 2011 by Courtney Sheinmel
“Slammed” © 2011 by Marlene Perez
“My Apology” © 2011 by Marina Cohen
“Dear Samantha” © 2011 by Kieran Scott
“Stench” © 2011 by Jon Scieszka
“What I Wanted to Tell You” © 2011 by Melissa Schorr
“Subtle Bullying” © 2011 by Rachel Vail
“Hiding Me” © 2011 by R. A. Nelson
“Midsummer’s Nightmare” © 2011 by Holly Cupala
Dear Bully Page 20