Book pick: Emily Bazelon's 'Sticks and Stones'

'Sticks and Stones' by Emily Bazelon
Book cover courtesy of publisher

Kerri's book Pick of the Week is Emily Bazelon's "Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy."

Kirkus calls it "a nuanced approach to the epidemic of bullying in American schools."

Bazelon dispels myths about bullying, such as that it's a common cause of suicide and that there's more bullying now than at any previous time. But she does not dismiss the need to confront the problem.

"We need the whole community to get on board for really changing the social norm," she said in the Chicago Tribune. "My favorite comparison is to drunk driving. When I was a teenager, drunk driving was, I hate to say it, a tiny bit cool. That's not the case any more. A mass media campaign, advocacy groups, parents, schools, everyone got on board to change the norm."