We all have known someone like Yaqui Delgado. We may never know what we have done to attract her attention. We might actually have done nothing that merits her attention. But we have it. And the attention is something we would rather not have.
Sometimes it happens in elementary school, but most often it occurs in middle school and high school. In middle school, it was because I went to the same bathroom every day between the last period of the day and dismissal so I wouldn't have to use the restroom while I was on the bus ride home. In high school it was because I shared a birthday with a boy that I had known since I was a small child.
While my experience was not as violent as Piddy's experience, nor was social media a threat, reading Meg Medina's book sent me back to middle and high school and caused me to remember what it was like to be bullied. Taunted. Threatened. Helpless. Frightened.
Piddy is new to Daniel Jones High School, and she finds it is difficult to fit in. She is becoming a woman, and a girl at her new high school decides that she wants to make Piddy's life a misery.
Anyone who has ever been bullied - or has bullied anyone - needs to read this book. Even though we may be "grown up." it never hurts to be reminded what it is like to be bullied. It reminds us that we need to stand up to bullies and not let them win.
*This book is a 2015-2016 Rosie book.
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