Easy Target by Tim Shoemaker

 Easy Target is a book that I think my students will love. Set in nearby Rolling Meadows, Illinois, we meet Hudson, a previously homeschooled middle schooler who enters the world of public school for the first time. His dad warned him about bullying he might face, but Hudson thinks he's overreacting. Then, he encounters the lunchroom where it is clear that Carl Sandburg Junior High definitely has bullies. Hudson stands up to the bullies to try to protect two classmates, Pancake and Maggie (yes, there is a character nicknamed Pancake). This action puts a target on Hudson and the bullies certainly want payback.

Hudson decides the school is in need of a culture change. He decides to exert pressure on the bullies in the hope that they stop being so malicious, but no matter how well intentioned Hudson is in his actions, things continue to escalate. Can Hudson and his friends make a positive social change or is the bullying in school simply beyond repair?

This book raises a lot of questions about how best to handle difficult situations and just how far is going to far. I think kids will really connect to this book because we've all seen bullying in some form or another in all of our years of being in school. This book would work great as a lit circle read or even as part of a SEL curriculum.

-TK




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