It's Up To You by Christopher Francis

 

Genre: Children
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

ChristopherFrancis is one of my all time favorite authors. Whether he is writing for the younger reader or young adults, his books always have some sort of lesson to be learned. As a teacher of middle grade students I often see bullying at its worst.  It isn't just the name calling, and physical kind of bullying. Even worse is the bullying that degrades a person by ignoring them or leaving them out so they feel as if they are nothing. We see more of that in middle grades.  At the end of his book he has a game called stand up.  This is important not just for the youngest children, but for all ages.  When I teach about the holocaust, I do something similar called "walk the line".  We have to reach these kids when they are young. If we don't the consequences show up when they are adults.  This is a very important book that I highly recommend.