Bullying in YA

Hey Everyone!

Today I wanted to talk about the use of bullying in Young Adult Literature. I feel that this is an extremely important topic because two of the books I have read this semester deal with this. Those books are on the side, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina and Wonder by R.J. Palacio.

Bullying in Yaqui Delgado is more prevalent than in Wonder. In the first of the two mentioned books, it is the entire plot. This girl, Yaqui Delgado, wants to literally kick Piddy's ass. I feel like books today are bringing up topics that we rarely saw ten to fifteen years ago. Seeing books like these today is something I absolutely adore. Though I admit I didn't feel a real connection with Medina's book because I personally haven't had to deal with bullying. The idea that writers like Meg Medina and R.J. Palacio are making people aware of the fact that kids are getting bullied and people aren't doing a whole lot to help them out.

In Wonder bullying was more of a side-effect to the situation as a whole. It's more of "you have a facial deformity, therefore you are expected to be bullied Auggie." This is where I felt the bullying was kind of pushed off as nothing. Auggie isn't made of steel, guys. He let some of the "bullying" incidents just slide and I didn't feel like it was as realistic as Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. This one it was more of, I can make friends despite my deformity. The other one was a girl truly struggling with her life.

The two books are hard to compare because they are so different, but these are also the only books with bullying that I have read. I feel like it still is exceptionally rare to see books like these. Bullying is a big thing in a lot of kids lives. Most people are the bullied or the bully. Most kids, not all. Making people more aware of the problem may help people know what to do.

What do you think of books on bullying? Do you think they are still rare to find? Is it doing more harm than good? Give me your opinions!

Until Next Time,