Reviewed by
Kathleen Schwartz

Reviewer Rating: * * * * *
Title: Time To Tell Them Off
Category: Non-Fiction/Self Help for 5th-12th Graders
Author: Dianna Miller
Publisher: Booklocker.com
Release date: : April 2000
ISBN: N/A

Deanna Miller writes about being a target of peer ridicule from first-hand experience.  She endured ridicule from her peers from kindergarten through to ninth grade.  

She provides assurances to kids that there is nothing really wrong with them; however, she realizes that kids’ behaviors sometimes make them the target for bullies.  And she focuses on why some children are bullies and then why some children become victims.

Deanna gives kids specific productive ways to handle the anger that results from being a constant victim of ridicule.  She suggests kindly how victims can change some of their inside and outside behaviors to help eliminate themselves as focal points for bullies. 

During her 35 years of teaching this author has seen how devastating teasing and ridicule can be for children and how her special education students often didn’t have the self-esteem or coping skills to overcome their victim status. 

This book is an excellent source of information for young people who have experienced the pain of ridicule.  It first makes the author “one” with the reader by showing how she was in the same position and then gives concrete advice for not only surviving the ridicule but also reducing the chance of being a target for bullies.  For younger readers, the reviewer suggests parents read and discuss the book together.

Copyright © 2001 by Kathleen Schwartz