Young adult books on tackling bullying
Bullying can be frightening and isolating, so we hope that these titles help young people who are being bullied to feel less alone, and seek help.
Even if they're not being bullied, it's important for children to understand how it feels to be in such a situation and learn what to do if they experience or witness bullying.
Gloves Off, by Louisa Reid
Lily turns sixteen with two very different sides to her life: school, where she is badly bullied, and home with her mum and dad, warm and comforting but with its own difficulties. After a particularly terrible bullying incident, Lily's dad determines to give his daughter the tools to fight back.
Introducing her to boxing, he encourages Lily to find her own worth. It is both difficult and challenging but in confronting her own fears she finds a way through that illuminates her life and friendships. Meeting Rose, and seeing that there is another world out there, enables her to live her own life fully and gives her the knowledge that she is both beautiful and worth it.
Fight Back, by A.M. Dassu
When a terrorist attack occurs near her home and racial tension increases, Aaliyah decides to begin wearing a hijab to challenge people's preconceptions of her faith. Aaliyah has to channel all her bravery and resourcefulness to halt the tide of hatred rippling through her community.
Black Brother, Black Brother, by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Donte wishes he were invisible. As one of the few black boys at Middlefield Prep, he feels as if he is constantly swimming in whiteness. Most of the students don't look like him. They don't like him either. Dubbed the 'Black Brother', Donte's teachers and classmates make it clear they wish he were more like his lighter skinned brother, Dre.
Quiet, obedient. When an incident with 'King' Alan leads to Donte's arrest and suspension, he knows the only way to get even is to beat the king of the school at his own game: fencing. With the help of a former Olympic fencer, Donte embarks on a journey to carve out a spot on Middlefield Prep's fencing team and maybe learn something about himself along the way.
Borrow Black Brother, Black Brother →
Blood Moon, by Lucy Cuthew
During astronomy-lover Frankie's first sexual experience with the quiet and lovely Benjamin, she gets her period. It's only blood, they agree. But soon a graphic meme goes viral, turning their fun, intimate afternoon into something disgusting, mortifying and damaging. As the online shaming takes on a horrifying life of its own, Frankie begins to wonder: is her real life over?
Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One, by Maggie Horne and Luna Valentine
Girls in Hazel's school are being harassed by an anonymous person online, someone who seems to know all about their insecurities and dreams. With no one willing to stand up and face the bully, how will Hazel be able to prove her suspicions?
Borrow Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One →
And the Stars Were Burning Brightly, by Danielle Jawando
When 15-year-old Nathan discovers that his older brother Al, has taken his own life, his whole world is torn apart. Al was special. Al was talented. Al was full of passion and light - so why did he do it? Convinced that his brother was in trouble, Nathan decides to retrace Al's footsteps. As he does, he meets Megan, Al's former classmate, who is as determined as Nathan to keep Al's memory alive. Together they start seeking answers, but will either of them be able to handle the truth about Al's death when they eventually discover what happened?
Borrow And the Stars Were Burning Brightly →
Face, by Benjamin Zephaniah
In his debut novel, poet Benjamin Zephaniah tackles the moving story of a young man, Martin, whose life is completely changed when his face is badly scarred in a joyriding accident.
The Chaos of Now, by Erin Lange
When Jordan Bishop set himself on fire at Haver High school as a result of internet bullying, it triggered a nationwide crackdown. New laws empower teachers to become cyber snoops in case of abuse on social media. For teen hacker, Eli Bennett, the laws put fundamental freedoms at risk. And he's not alone in thinking this.
Approached by two mysterious hackers, Eli is recruited into a group that wants justice for Jordan the way Jordan would've wanted it. But what starts as a bit of fun to rile the cyber snoops soon spirals out of control. Revenge on Jordan's bullies could be classed as bullying itself. At best, Eli's school career is in jeopardy, at worst, once more lives are at risk.
The Teenage Guide to Friends, by Nicola Morgan
Essential reading for teenagers and the adults who care about them. Contents include a section on making friends, keeping friendships strong, and what happens when they break down - as well as a look at online friendships, cyber-bullying, toxic friendships and frenemies, and empathy. There is also a section on personality types - introverts and extroverts - and quizzes to help you discover what sort of person you are, how you relate to others and how to deal with difficult situations.
Borrow The Teenage Guide to Friends →
Open Your Heart: Learn to Love Your Life and Love Yourself, by Gemma Cairney & Aurelia Lange
Full of honest and practical advice from The Surgery agony aunt Gemma Cairney and a whole host of trained professionals and real people, Open Your Heart is a best friend in a book. From heartbreak and heartache to body image and everything in between, it will help you learn to love your body, your friends and your family, and tell you what to do if things go wrong.
Thornhill, by Pam Smy
As she unpacks in her new bedroom, Ella is irresistibly drawn to the big old house that she can see out of her window. Surrounded by overgrown gardens, barbed wire fences and 'keep out' signs. It looks derelict.
But that night a light goes on in one of the windows. And the next day she sees a girl in the grounds. Ella is hooked, the house has a story to tell, she is sure of it. Enter Thornhill, Institute for Children, and discover the dark secrets that lie within. But once inside, will you ever leave?
This is a dark tale, highly illustrated and an affecting portrayal of bullying and its consequences.
The Weight of Water, by Sarah Crossan
Armed with a suitcase and an old laundry bag filled with clothes, Kasienka and her mother leave Poland and head for the UK to find her father. Life is lonely for Kasienka. At home her mother's heart is breaking and at school Kasienka finds it impossible to make new friends.
We Are All Made of Molecules, by Susin Nielsen
Meet Stewart. He's geeky, gifted, and sees things a bit differently to most people. His mum has died and he misses her all the more now he and Dad have moved in with Ashley and her mum. Meet Ashley. She's popular, cool, and sees things very differently to her new family. Her dad has come out and moved out - but not far enough. And now she has to live with a freakazoid step-brother.
Stewart can't quite fit in at his new school, and Ashley can't quite get used to her totally awkward home, which is now filled with some rather questionable decor. And things are about to get a whole lot more mixed up when these two very different people attract the attention of school hunk Jared.
Borrow We Are All Made of Molecules →
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
The headmaster of Trinity College asks Archie Costello, the leader of the Vigils, a secret society that rules the school, to help with the selling of 20,000 boxes of chocolates in the annual fund-raising effort. Archie sees the chance of adding to his power - he is the Assigner, handing out to the boys tasks to be performed if they are to survive in the school.
"Freshman, Jerry Renault, a newcomer to the corrupt regime, refuses to sell chocolates. Enormous mental and physical pressure is put on him but he will not give in - the result is an inevitable, explosive tragedy.
The Truth About Alice, by Jennifer Mathieu
In this remarkable novel, four Healy High students - the party girl, the car accident survivor, the ex best friend and the boy next door - tell all they know. But exactly what is the truth about Alice? In the end there's only one person to ask: Alice herself.
Borrow The Truth About Alice →
Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
Max is used to being called Stupid. And he is used to everyone being scared of him. On account of his size and looking like his dad. Kevin is used to being called Dwarf. On account of his size and being some cripple kid. But greatness comes in all sizes, and together Max and Kevin become 'Freak The Mighty' and walk high above the world.
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
A plane crashes on a desert island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast.
Wonder, by R.J. Palacio
'My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.' Auggie wants to be an ordinary 10-year-old. He does ordinary things - eating ice cream, playing on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids aren't stared at wherever they go. Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school. All he wants is to be accepted. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?
Find more information, resources and suggested reading on tackling bullying →