YA Realistic Fiction: The Revealers by Doug Wilhelm - Katie Vanko EDRL 524- Fall 2014

-->

Katie Vanko EDRL 524- Fall 2014

The Revealers  by Doug Wilhelm

Could this book help us solve a growing problem with bullying?

         It seems as though almost every person has felt like a victim of bullying at some point during his or her life.  Struggling to fit in when compared with others, teens can be cruel to each other.  With social media and technology, bullying is now being channeled through cell phones, and Internet websites.  It is no longer an issue that is always out in the open because now it can be more easily hidden. Cyber bullying destroys teens, seriously impacting them as they try to find their true identities. 

         The Revealers, by Doug Wilhelm, acknowledges the bullying problem that way too many young people face on a daily basis.  He writes a realistic fictional novel for young adults about Parkland Middle School.  Three seventh grade students from very different cultural backgrounds (Elliot, Russell, and Catalina) are tired of being verbally threatened and beaten up.  They feel as though they are not valued, and their unique traits are forced to remain hidden.   They create an online forum using their school’s Internet Website (Kidnet) to share their experiences with the school.  Their entries inspire others to come forward and share similar stories about bullying.  Their blog work brings them together as they fight bullying, and obstacles that threaten to shutdown their website.  The novel encourages readers to speak up, and put a stop to all forms of bullying.  It is suspenseful, and relevant to society today.

         This book is appropriate and important for middle and high school students.  They will connect with the characters immediately, identifying with both the bullied and the perpetrators.  This novel can also bring rich discussions about bullying into classrooms.  It is not simply a novel that sends a message about bullying being “bad.”   It explores how complex bullying has become in schools today.  The book’s purpose is to present the ways in which a group of students respond to bullying, sharing their own feelings in a unique way.  Because it is written from the perspectives of thirteen-year-old students, the style is informal, and the language is fairly simplistic.  Although the structure of the text is simple, the content may be more difficult for students to talk about.  They may need emotional support, especially if they feel victims themselves to bullying.