DIANA RODRIGUEZ WALLACH

So you may remember last spring when I first told you about Young Adult Authors Against Bullying (YAAAB), the ingenious organization starting by authors Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones. Well, these authors have taken it one-step further and put together an anthology that’s been garnering quite a bit of buzz.

DEAR BULLY: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories, edited by Hall and Jones, let’s us share our personal bullying accounts with teens, and I’m excited and proud that I’ll have an essay in the mix with some incredible authors.

Check out the full line-up below:

Introduction by Ellen Hopkins

Dear Bully
Dear Bully by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Love Letter to My Bully by Tonya Hurley
Dear Audrey by Courtney Sheinmel
Slammed by Marlene Perez
My Apology by Marina Cohen
Dear Samantha by Kieran Scott

Just Kidding
Stench by Jon Scieszka
What I Wanted to Tell You by Melissa Schorr
Subtle Bullying by Rachel Vail
Hiding Me by R. A. Nelson
Midsummer’s Nightmare by Holly Cupala
BFFBOTT.COM by Lisa McMann
The Innocent Bully by Linda Gerber
The Secret by Heather Brewer
The Funny Guy by R. L. Stine

Survival
A List by Micol Ostow 00
There’s a Light by Saundra Mitchell
The Soundtrack to My Survival by Stephanie Kuehnert
If Mean Froze by Carrie Jones
Abuse by Lucienne Diver
The Boy Who Won’t Leave Me Alone by A. S. King
That Deep Alone by Lise Haines
break my heart by Megan Kelley Hall
End of the World by Jessica Brody
Girl Wars by Crissa-Jean Chappell
The Curtain by Deborah Kerbel

Regret
The Eulogy of Ivy O’Conner by Sophie Jordan
Regret by Lisa Yee
Karen by Nancy Werlin
Surviving Alfalfa by Teri Brown
When I Was a Bully, Too by Melissa Walker
Carol by Amy Koss
Never Shut Up by Kiersten White
The Day I Followed by Eric Luper

Thank You, Friends
The Alphabet by Laura Kasischke
They Made Me Do It and I’m Sorry by Cecil Castellucci
Simplehero by Debbie Rigaud
Isolation by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Luz by Melodye Shore
Dear Caroline from Canada by Carrie Ryan
The Blue-Eyed Girl by Jocelyn Maeve Kelley
Frenemies Are Not Friends by Michelle Zink

Insight
The Other Side by Nancy Holder
Can We Make This Letter Disappear? by Sara Bennett Wealer
Bully on the Ledge by Kurtis Scaletta
Informed Consent by Lara Zeises
Silent All These Years by Alyson Noël
Now and Then by Aprilynne Pike
STRANGERS ON A STREET by Diana Rodriguez Wallach (Look! That’s me!)
Objects in Mirror are More Complex Than They Appear by Lauren Oliver

Speak
Levels by Tanya Lee Stone
Slivers of Purple Paper by Cyn Balog
The Sound of Silence by Claudia Gabel
Starship Suburbia by Maryrose Wood
Kicking Stones at the Sun by Jo Knowles
Memory Videos by Nancy Garden
Finding Light in the Darkness by Lisa Schroeder

Write It
The Sandwich Fight by Steven Wedel
Fearless by Jeannine Garsee
Without Armor by Daniel Waters
The Seed by Lauren Kate

It Gets Better
Now by Amy Reed
Standing Tall by Dawn Metcalf
The Superdork of the Fifth-Grade Class of 1989 by Kristen Harmel
“Who Gives the Popular People Power? Who???” by Megan McCafferty
“That Kid” by Janni Lee Simner
This Is Me by Erin Dionne
Bullies for Me by Mo Willems
To Carolyn Mackler, From Elizabeth in IL
Dear Elizabeth by Carolyn Mackler

The anthology debuts this fall and has already been featured in Publisher’s Weekly and now February’s issue of Glamour magazine!

Check that out! It’s not just a little blurb in Glamour, it’s a two-page spread with a full-page photo. Don’t Megan and Carrie look great?! You can click on the photos to read the entire article. (Thanks, Melissa Walker for the links!)

Let’s hope this book brings more light to the bullying epidemic in this country. I know Megan and Carrie are already getting emails from teens about how YAAAB has had a huge impact on their lives. They’re using the Facebook page as an outlet, and many plan to contribute essays (along with other young adult authors) to the new YAAAB website that is coming soon.