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A Bully on the School Bus Book Review & Giveaway

October is National Bullying Prevention Month and I have another children's book about bullying in our review spotlight today! Earlier this week, I shared my thoughts on Sophia Writes to Her Bully.  Today, I would like to share a quick review of A Bully on the School Bus by the same author, Dr. Mildred D. Peyton.


Book Title: A Bully on the School Bus by Dr. Mildred D. Peyton and Leah N. Peyton
Illustrator: Andy Hoang
Category: Children's fiction, 26 pages
Genre: Education, Social Skills & School Life

About the Book

Nicole is the main character in the book "A Bully on the School Bus." Nicole is a young girl who rides the school bus to school every day. It wasn't until Nicole started experiencing problems with another bus-rider named Dylan when she became uncomfortable being on this bus. Her experience with Dylan is a form of bullying, and she was frightened. After several incidences, Nicole made her parent aware and found a way to solve the problem.

My Review

A Bully on the School Bus Offers a Realistic Bullying Situation.  The author does a great job choosing an all too common bullying situation that many elementary school aged children face.  This short, easy to read children's book presents a typical school bus bully and presents the emotions and situation very well through both written words and colorful pictures.  Readers will clearly see how the bullying made Nicole feel with the emotion filled illustrations.  This book offers a great starting point for parents to address a child's emotional responses to bullying (sadness, fear, etc.).  It's also a great book to allow families to talk about adult responsibilities when children are bullied.  A bus or a crowded hallway are easy spots for bullies because it is harder for them to be caught by an supervising adult.  It is important for children to realize that while an adult may be present when an act occurs--in a busy, commotion filled spot like a school bus, the adult may simply not see the act or may not realize that there is a problem without being told.    Families are busy--and evenings are packed with dinner, homework and activities.  This book made a point of allowing the family to set aside a time to focus on discussing the bullying situation to give it the full attention it needed. 

A Bully on the School Bus offers Great Resources for Children Facing Bullying.  In a short time, this book does show families and children that help is available--and should be consulted.  Nicole told her mother about the issue, her family discussed it together--and she made a plan to tell her bus driver if there was a problem again.  I would have liked to have seen one more day of positive interaction between Nicole and her bully after the bus driver became involved (or would have liked for the bus driver to have been included in at least a following day's bus ride to show that he was continuing to monitor the situation).  Bullying isn't always resolved with only one intervention.  Having said that, the book offers a realistic view of, at least, the ideal initial response to a school bus bully--and the book offers additional tips and bullying resources to readers at the end of the book.

Would I Recommend
A Bully on the School Bus?  Like Sophia Writes Her Bully, I think this book is a great starting point for parents or teachers to introduce an aspect of bullying--and offer resources for help.  While the book resolves the bullying issue quickly, it gives parents and teachers a starting point to launch the "what if" sorts of questions.  What if the bullying continued the next day?  Or a week later?  What if this solution didn't work at all?  What if the bully found a new place or a new way to bully Nicole?  I would certainly recommend this book for use with other children's books and other resources for parents and teachers seeking to educate and support students facing bullying.


To read reviews, please visit Dr. Mildred Peyton's page on iRead Book Tours.


Buy the Book



Meet the Author



Dr. Mildred Peyton is the President and Founder of Peyton Consulting, LLC. Dr. Peyton established her consulting firm, which was initially geared towards school bullying services, in March 2016. She was inspired to create Peyton Consulting and become a children's author on bullying after completing her doctoral research study entitled, "Exploring the Meaning of School Bullying Among Parents of Victimized Children."

During her undergraduate internship in 2002-2003 at Salisbury Middle School in Wicomico County, Dr. Peyton and her team developed and facilitated a mentoring program, providing one-on-one conflict resolution and mediating skills to students who were identified by the program coordinator with ongoing needs of behavioral issues. One of the key/primary areas Dr. Peyton and the other mentors focused on was educating and addressing bullying issues with bullies and victims. And in her graduate program, Dr. Peyton also facilitated a school bullying focus group in 2005 at Maryvale Elementary School in Montgomery County, to teach participants about bullying behaviors and how to avoid bullying others. She also attended several bullying workshops to learn about the latest studies while working with the students. Her passion on this topic followed her even as she served as a member on the Committee on Hate/Violence at Montgomery County Office of Human Rights, in 2013. There she developed a brochure for students and parents for the annual bullying symposium and, provided rich knowledge and skills on this topic throughout the year.

Today, the company has expanded its services to target workplace bullying as well. With the experiences of others and Dr. Peyton's personal experience with adult bullying in the workplace (which caused her to resign from her employer in 2016), she believes attention, guidance, and solutions are also critical in this area. Dr. Peyton holds a Ph.D. in Human and Social Services with a concentration in Social Policy Analysis & Planning. She has a Bachelor's degree in Social Work and Sociology and a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology. Dr. Peyton is committed to using her knowledge and skills to influence positive change among students and adults.

Connect with Author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram

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Ends Nov 3, 2018


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