BOOK PICKS.

Byline: The Register-Guard

"The Revealers"

By Doug Wilhelm

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003

Ages 10 to 15

"Middle school, at least our middle school, was basically a place you tried to survive. Last year in sixth grade, when it started, I still had a lot of friends from elementary school - but it was like we had all gone from a family sort of place to this big dim noisy train station. Everybody was rushing around and you hardly knew anybody, and there were predators. They were all over, the predators."

So goes the story of 12-year-old Russell who, for no apparent reason, becomes the favorite target of his school's biggest bully. As the question of "Why?" begins to demand an answer, he seeks out Elliot, the perpetual victim, who is as low on the social register as you can go. When Catalina joins their class and becomes the focus of all the mean girl gossip, the three of them decide to join together and strike back.

Using the chat room function of their school's local area network, they get permission to simply share their stories - who they really are, why the bullying is senseless. What they don't anticipate is the response. Soon they are receiving stories from many other students who want to share their own experiences. As the popularity of the "Bully Lab" grows, so does Russell's belief that they now have the power to give the bullies a taste of their own medicine.

It will come as no surprise to the reader that this proves to be their undoing, as together they discover that truth is often as hard to recognize as the good guys and the bad guys are.

Wilhelm created this story with the help of middle school students in Vermont. "The Revealers" is not great literature, but it is enlightening, empowering and accessible to even the most reluctant reader. If you are a middle school student, or just someone who cares about them, it is a book you will want to read.

- Linda Ague, librarian,

Cal Young Middle School