From: Kerry Madden <kiffnkerry>
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:12:59 -0700 (PDT)

Thanks very much for these wonderful and insightful posts. I find this thread fascinating, since I was bullied as a child and those incidents have gone right into my fiction. I do writing workshops with kids, and I always tell them the story of "Eddie" who made my life miserable with nicknames like "Wilt," "Skyscraper," and I'll spare you the rest...I was much taller than Eddie, which was how it all started. He found his way into my novel OFFSIDES, and just a few years ago, he read the book and then he wrote me a letter of apology and said, "I am so sorry for how I treated you in sixth grade. Tall girls always win. I'm a lawyer in Pittsburgh, but I'd love to be a writer. Any hints?" The kids in the writing workshops love this story...and I try to convey to them that whatever pain or joy or frustration they might be living right now will feed their stories and art down the road and to have hope...
   
  In my novel, Louisiana's Song, the girls have to stand up to some evil bus bullies. You never forget, but what I try to do is to get the kids in my workshops to see that they are not alone and that they can come out on the other side through their stories, art, and music.
   
  All best Kerry Madden www.kerrymadden.com
  
  



  GENTLE'S HOLLER, LOUISIANA'S SONG, JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN
  A Smoky Mountain Trilogy
  Viking Children's Books
  www.kerrymadden.com
Received on Wed 19 Mar 2008 12:12:59 PM CDT