Review:
I received an ARC of Words Wound courtesy of Netgalley. I
was very interested in what this book had to say about cyberbullying. Working
my days in a school with kindergarten through 5th graders, I (thankfully)
don’t usually have many instances to use knowledge of cyberbullying, primarily
because my students aren’t old enough to really use a lot of social networking.
Many students have Instagram, but very few have Facebook or twitter at this
stage in the game. However, being aligned with many students who were a little
older, the book was of interest to me, and I really wanted to see what it had
to offer.
I DID very much feel the entire time reading this book, that
while its intended audience might be of the teenage variety, it really was
written as if it was directed more toward their parents and educators. This isn’t
to say that the whole book is a wash—there were some awesome suggestions to be
made to students who are bullying and/or witness bullying of others, but the
book was filled with a lot of facts and figures—things I’m not sure would
appeal to a reading audience of teens. The book definitely had instances of
teens giving feedback as to experiences that they had had with cyberbullying,
which was refreshing to hear the “real life” stories of teens standing up to
bullies, and standing up for their friends--- it was sometimes hard to get through
with the hypotheticals, and I personally wished that there would've been more feedback from teens throughout the book.
The book dealt with some very real situations that students
don’t think about. I personally, know of a teen whose Facebook account was
hacked because he gave his password to an ex-girlfriend, and he dealt with the repercussions
of a night of completely inappropriate musings--- he got into trouble at
school, with family members, and with friends.
I felt as if the most important chapter of the book (how to
bring cyberbullying down in your school by forming groups/making pledges to
stop cyberbullying), were very well written, and provided a ton of great ideas
to begin something in your own school district.
One piece of the book that I definitely LIKED, was that the book outlined some court cases involving cyberbullying, and how even online behavior off campus (or outside of school), can still definitely affect you INSIDE the walls of a school. It's important that students and teens understand what could happen because of their online behaviors, and that there still are consequences within the four walls of the schoolhouse, for things that might have been said in the heat of the moment online.
Where can I buy this?: Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Words-Wound-Delete-Cyberbullying-Kindness/dp/1575424517
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/words-wound-justin-patchin/1114971564?ean=9781575426020
What I think of it: 4/5 (again, if it was written more for a
teenaged audience, this would’ve been a clear 4.5/5)
Who would like to read it: I think EVERY parent of a
teenager in this day and age should definitely read this book. Educators who
work with teens should definitely look into it as well.
Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wordswound
No comments:
Post a Comment